The official competition of the 2024 International Criminal Court Chinese Moot Court Competition was held at Beijing Xiangshan Hotel from April 13 to 14, 2024. The competition attracted 118 university teams from all over the country, hitting a historical new high. A total of 45 teams participated in the official competition for seven awards after the memorial competition. The ICC Chinese team from Liaoning University won four prizes after two days’ competition, namely the second prize, the Best Memorial Award, the Best Memorial of Prosecution Award and the Best Prosecution Counsel Award.

Introduction to the competition

Organized by the Chinese Initiative on International Law (CIIL), the ICC Chinese Competition represents a moot court competition held in Chinese, one of the six official languages of the International Criminal Court. The competition aims to promote students and the community in better understanding the theories and practices of international law, especially international criminal law, and advance exchanges between universities and the ICC.

Introduction to the LNU team

The ICC Chinese team from Liaoning University included coach Ma Wenfei from the Law School, consultant professor Gao Ning, team leaders Zhao Qiuye and Wang Xiuchuan, 2022 graduate student Wang Runnan as student leader, 2022 graduate student Zhang Xinyue, 2023 graduate student Sun Shengbo, and 2022 undergraduate students Fan Bingqian and Li Jialu. Meanwhile, students Wu Yin, Su Haixin, Wang Qiran as English debaters also joined the preparation of the competition, making great contributions to the team’s success.

Competition process

During the preparation period from September 2023 to April 2024, the team members devoted themselves to the competition by harnessing their vacation, successfully submitted the pleadings of the three parties and achieved the court defense with ease. Faced with all kinds of unexpected issues, they worked as a team, bore their responsibilities and made strategic divisions of the workload. Countless documents, numerous meeting minutes of discussions at midnight, as well as the innumerable first rays of sunshine sprinkled on the computer screen, stood as testaments to their efforts and success in the competition.

Over many years, under the care and support of leaders and teachers from the Law school and the university, the ICC Chinese team from Liaoning University have won the first prize, the second prize and the Best Memorial Award many times, fully demonstrating the achievements of Liaoning University in cultivating high-quality foreign-related legal talents. In the future, the team will make further progress!