Bocconi Student Team Wins at the International Moot Competition in Law and Religion
On March 13 and 14, the 8th edition of the International Moot Competition in Law and Religion, a major trial simulation before panels of judges simulating the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), was held in Rome. Bocconi has been taking part in the initiative for years, under the coordination of professors Arianna Vedaschi (as responsible for the Moot Court), Chiara Graziani, Micol Ferrario and Sergio Sulmicelli. This year, Bocconi fielded two teams, composed of students Francesco Fernando Annese, Elisabetta Chiuminatto, Giorgio Colleoni and Alessandro Tarducci for the ECHR and Daniele Bertani, Grace Haruni and Emanuele Parrella for SCOTUS.
The event featured several teams from prestigious universities from both the United States and Europe, among which the Bocconi team, prepared by coaches Ferrario and Sulmicelli, went on to win the “Best Team” award in the session before the ECHR.
A case about rights and the environment
The complex case addressed in the competition intertwined issues of religious freedom and environmental protection. The dispute pitted the Order of the Druids, an indigenous community, against the equally fictional state of Asgard, which had granted the Valhalla Valley (where the Druids had been practicing their sacred ritual, Beltane, for centuries) to a mining company for the exploitation of solarium, a mineral essential for the production of solar panels. Such a concession could irreparably compromise a site sacred to the Druids, jeopardizing their religious practices and cultural identity.
The Bocconi students, as plaintiffs in the proceedings before the ECHR, put together an articulate and convincing case. Their argument emphasized how the Asgard government’s decision violated the freedom of religion and the right to private and family life of members of the Order of the Druids. The team finely balanced the principles underlying environmental protection and those related to technological development with the rights of indigenous communities.
A top-class jury
The task of rating participants’ performances fell to a jury composed of Vincent A. De Gaetano and András Sajó, both former judges of the ECHR, and Giada Ragone, associate professor at the University of Milan. The final verdict praised the Bocconi team for the soundness of their defense and their ability to articulate a persuasive and balanced legal argument.
