ELTE team finishes again on the podium at Telders
The team of Péter Virányi (plaintiff), Dániel Kántor (plaintiff), Ámir Yousif Zaki (defendant) and Ábel Csiffáry (defendant) achieved the third best result of ELTE so far, finishing in 2nd place as the defendant and in 3rd place as the plaintiff. With an extremely balanced performance, the team achieved outstanding results in both the written and oral fields, both on the plaintiff's and on the defendant's side. During the tournament, the team went undefeated against teams from Cologne, Bucharest, Tbilisi and The Hague, and missed the final by a whisker.
In 2023, Astoriana and Ravenshout, two imaginary nations, found themselves locked in a legal battle. At the heart of their conflict were issues of international court jurisdiction, infringements of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and state accountability for unlawful actions. Ravenshout, a developing nation, had been cultivating genetically modified fish in an estuary to tackle its food scarcity issue. However, an unforeseen earthquake led to the escape of these fish, resulting in substantial environmental and humanitarian harm to Astoriana's shoreline. Despite attempts to resolve their dispute diplomatically and through other channels, Ravenshout's refusal to cooperate brought the case to a head. With no resolution in sight, the two countries made their way to The Hague, laying their issue before the International Court of Justice.
In the first claim, the court had to decide whether it had jurisdiction. The key question here was whether the young state of Astoriana, was the legal successor of a confederation from which it had emerged. The second request concerned the validity of a previous arbitration award between the parties. In the third, the parties disputed whether the defendant had acted with sufficient care in relation to the breeding of the fish. The last request was based on the actions of an Astoriana paramilitary organization. In revenge for the damage caused by the fish, the organization invaded the territory of the defendant state and stole the plaintiff's fearfully guarded sacred animals. The court had to decide whether the actions of the organization could be attributed to the plaintiff.
This year's team's trainers were dr. habil Gábor Kajtár LL.M. (Cantab) associate professor and dr. Barbara Bazánth LL.M. (NYU), doctoral student (ELTE).
The team was supported again this year by the Ministry of Justice, the Talent Management Council of ELTE, and especially by the Hegymegi-Barakonyi & Fehérváry Baker & McKenzie Law Firm, to whom we would also like to say thanks for believing in the team’s success for years and personally supporting the Jessup- and Telders team.
