By Shimul Ahmed & Arshaadur Rahman

With the aim to introducing fact marshalling, enhancing the art of advocacy and presentation skills Southeast University Moot Court Society (SEUMCS) organized an workshop titled as “Workshop on Mooting: Issue of Genocide” in partnership with Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice, Liberation War Museum, Dhaka. The event hosted participants from 11 (eleven) law schools, who were selected through a rigorous application process with the aim to get acquainted with the different aspects of mooting.

The first session of the event consisted of a  Mock Trial which held on a fact involving genocide. Two selected teams each consisting of three members took part in this session. After intense arguments on a critical issue of crime against humanity, Mamiatul Islam Omi from Southeast University was awarded the best participant award, while Delwar Hossain from North South University received the second best participant award. In this session, the judges of the mock trial observed that mooting will help the mooters to learn advocacy, legal reasoning and legal research skills. It also helps to introduced with stimulating and contentious legal issues.

The second session was graced by Mr. Mofidul Hoque, the director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice and the Trustee of Liberation War Museum as the Chief Guest. In his speech, the Hon’ble chief guest thanked the organizers of the workshop for making opportunity for law students. He mentioned the workshop as one of a kind and unprecedented in Bangladesh, and encouraged the perseverance of organizing this event every year. The keynote speaker of the session was Mr. Md. Salim Miah, District and Session Judge and Former Registrar, International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh, who shared his experience of working with International Crimes Tribunal and discussed different parts of genocide.

Vice Chancellor of the Southeast University, Prof. ANM Meshquate Uddin was also present at the occasion as the special guest and welcomed participants from other universities at the campus of Southeast University. He encouraged the efforts of the enthusiastic mooters and encouraged the Department of law to keep organizing such events at a regular pace.

In the concluding speech, Mr. Md. Asaduzzaman, Chairman of the Department of Law and Justice, Southeast University thanked the Committee members of SEUMCS as well as the moderator involved for keeping the society vibrant.

The second session came to an end with the distribution of prizes and certificates of participation. Students were presented with various prizes for their performance in the 6th and 7th Intra-department Moot Court Competition including the best mooter award.

In the third phase of the workshop, the participants visited the Liberation War Museum. The participants were shown a documentary film on the liberation struggle. Afterwards, the participants visited different galleries of the museum.

After the visit, the participants took an exam which is organized by liberation war museum. Trustee of Liberation war museum Mr. Mofidul Hoque disclosed the exam result and gave prizes to the first, second and third participants. He gave an inspirational speech. His speech includes the history and activities of the museum. He said that every year museum organizes a winter school, a lot of workshops and one-month certificate course. They have been also sent 3 teams in makeshift camps for testimony collection. Museum’s activities basically deal’s with the study of Genocide and Justice. The participants also shared their experiences of the visit.

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Shimul Ahmed is the President of Southeast University Moot Court Society (SEUMCS), and Arshaadur Rahman is the Treasurer of SEUMCS.