11 November 2019
November 5th to 8th, MGIMO hosted a Model of the European Court of Human Rights. The event was organized by the University’s Law club and sponsored by the Office for Educational Work, the European Training Institute, the Department of European Law and the publishing house "Development of Legal Systems".
Over 200 students from more than 20 universities of different Russian cities gathered at the event. For four days, the five chambers of the Court worked in Russian, English and French.
The opening ceremony, held on November 5th, started with a master class by the Head of the Department of European Law M. Entin on "The Role of the Council of Europe and the ECHR in building a common space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean". Among those attending the opening ceremony were MGIMO’s Vice-Rector for Social and Educational Work I.Loginov, the Deputy Dean of the International Law School N.Molchakov, the Director of the European Studies Institute T.Shashikhina, the Associate Professor of the Department of European Law E.Torkunova and the Head of the Law club, Alexey Starikov. The project Manager of the Model was Julia Garbar.
November 6th, the chambers started to work, with applicants filing complaints, and representatives of the respondent state and judges actively determining their position on each case.
The students working in the English and French chambers received recommendations from the graduate of the Department of European law, K.Zharinov, the lecturer of French M.Tatarinov, as well as the lecturer of the French Department and Coordinator of International Programmes of the European Studies Institute A.Makarenko.
During the third day of the Model, a master class was given by A.Kovler, an honored lawyer of Russia, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1999-2012), member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, Professor at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation. The class dealt with the specificities of the procedure in the ECHR. The event was incredibly popular among the Model participants but also among other students who gathered in the hall.
November 8th, the closing ceremony of the European Court of Human Rights model took place. The decisions of the five chambers of the Court were presented in Russian, English and French.
The resolutions were evaluated by the members of the jury: The Director of MGIMO’s ESI T. Shashikhina, the Head of the Program Office of the Council of Europe in Moscow Peter Sich, the Executive Director of the Association "Development of legal systems" Yu.Berestnev, the Attache of the Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Russian Foreign Ministry O.Zinchenko and the Associate Professor of European Law at MGIMO E.Torkunova.
The voting resulted in all the resolutions proposed by the participants being approved. The members of the Jury gave a farewell address to the guests, noting the high level of the event and the students’ skills. Peter Sich underlined the importance of the cooperation between Russia and the Council of Europe as well as the protection of human rights through the consideration of complaints to the ECHR.
The best students were awarded diplomas and gifts, including the latest editions of the ECHR placements from the publishing house "Development of Legal Systems". The organizers were congratulated on the quality of the preparation of the event and their active assistance in all stages of the process. During the preparation of the Model, the expert of the Council of Europe E. Yurkina also organized a master class.
Both the jury and the organizers themselves remarked that the model was a great success.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
