Plaidoiries en faveur de la Géorgie et de la Russie concernant le conflit de 2008
Public pleadings by students of the Geneva Academy on the 2008 South Ossetian conflict
The one-week long conflict over South Ossetia in August 2008 left lives, homes, and communities devastated, and gave rise to numerous allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In January 2016 the International Criminal Court authorized the opening of a formal investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor into the situation.
In the framework of the course on IHL given by Prof. Marco Sassòli for the Master in Advanced Studies in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, students will plead for Russia and Georgia arguing that the side they represent has respected IHL while the adverse side has violated IHL. These pleadings will take place in
Room MR 290 of Uni Mail (bd du Pont d’Arve 40)
on Saturday, 21 May, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m
In front of a jury composed of Professor Marco Sassòli of the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva and Ms. Elvina Pothelet doctoral student and course assistant, students (whose roles were attributed by the lot) will plead on:
- The classification of the conflict and applicable law,
- Classification of persons and territory,
- Killing and destruction of property of ethnic Georgians,
- The use of weapons and precautionary measures during ground and air offensives,
- The targeting of persons,
- The detention of prisoners by Georgian and by South Ossetian forces.
The public is welcome to attend the pleadings which will be performed in English (les premières plaidoiries concernant la qualification du conflit (comme international, non international ou mixte) se feront en français).
12 mai 20162016