Source: School of Law

Written by: School of Law

Translated by: Zheng Danni, Zhu Yifeng

Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On 31 May 2013, from 14:00 to 16:30 local time (20:00 – 22:30 Beijing Time), the final round of the International Criminal Court Trial Competition, Chinese version, organized by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was held in The Hague, the Heart of International Law. Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) stood out in the fierce competition as the final winner, and the only Best Speaker award went to Wei Wang of SYSU.

The International Criminal Court Trial Competition is organized by ICC, cooperated with legal organizations or universities all over the world, and is held in six official languages of the Court (namely Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). It is a significant moot court competition in the field of international law and has profound influence. Three winning teams would emerge from each competition zone through preliminaries and take part in the international final in The Hague. This year, the preliminary in the Chinese competition zone was organized jointly by ICC and China University of Political Science and Law from 13 April 2013 to 14 April 2013. Fifteen teams from within and outside the borders participated in the preliminary, such as Peking University, University of Macau, Fudan University, China University of Political Science and Law and China Foreign Affairs University. In the preliminary, the delegation of Sun Yat-sen University won the national first prize, the Best Memo award and the Best Prosecutor award (Zhifan Zheng), obtaining the qualification to attend the final in ICC. In the final, China University of Political Science and Law and China Foreign Affairs University won, respectively, second and third place.

The final of Chinese version has attracted widespread attention of international organizations in The Hague. Before the final, both Chinese and Russian teams were invited to visit the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and so on. The SYSU team had in-depth communication with the above international organizations and Russian teams. People from all walks of life, including Chinese diplomats in the Netherlands, those study or work abroad and overseas alumni, expressed their pride and congratulations for the SYSU being the final winner.

The SYSU team was coached by Yijian Chen and Zhixiong Chao, and composed of Wei Wang (graduate student in Grade 2012), Zhifan Zheng, Danni Zheng, and Zhiming Wang (undergraduate students in Grade 2009). After the recruitment in November 2012, with the support from the officials of the School of Law as well as the guidance by the coaches, all the team members and assistants fully devoted themselves to the preparation for the competition in 7 months. During the process, the students have done a great research of a number of documents and cases on the judicature of international criminal law, composed legal memos in a high quality and simulated court debate in an intense fashion, which led them to the outstanding achievements.

For more information about the final, please visit the official website of the International Criminal Court:

www.icc-cpi.int/EN_Menus/ICC/Pages/default.aspx