The Ukrainian participants of the Moot Court Competition were: Maxym Dvorovyi, Roksolana Turkovska, Liliya Slobodian, Lesya Boichuk. MLI’s director Taras Shevchenko accompanied them within their trip, mentored and trained them for the competition.

In Oxford, 35 teams representing a diverse range of countries (including Belarus, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Pakistan, Tanzania and the USA) argued a complex case on free speech, religious expression and the regulation of social media before distinguished benches of lawyers, academics and practicioners from the media industry serving as judges.

Participants also attended a programme of engaging events alongside the competition, such as a seminar on ‘Religion, Secularism and the Public Sphere: New Challenges to the Rule of Law’ sponsored by The Guardian, and a workshop on ‘Securing Freedom of Expression through the United Nations Special Procedures’ delivered by experts from the Media Legal Defence Initiative, Oxford University and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

This participation of the team is organized in the framework of the International MediaSupport Project “Promotion of human rights & democracy and strengthening of media and civil society in Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Belarus” supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.