Summer School 2017 – Civil rights and their Impact on criminal law

During the one-week programme the students were compelled to hold presentations to each other about the characteristics of their countries Criminal as well as Civil law. The subsequent discussions had a comparing character and had the purpose to point out the differences between the legislative statutes in Vietnam and Germany. The professors complemented the presentations of their students by giving input on the characteristics of their area of expertise. The grand finale of the Summer School has been a Moot Court, a simulated trial in which the students slipped into their role as e.g. judge, attorney or accused and simulated two court cases on a fictive incident according to German and afterwards Vietnamese proceeding.

The German delegation arrived on a lovely Sunday and received a warm welcome by the Vietnamese hosts. On Monday and Tuesday the Summer School took place in the Law School of Vietnam National University. Presentations were held and many, vivid discussion about many different aspects concerning the differences of the two countries’ judicial systems followed. On Wednesday the group visited the Office of Public Prosecution in Hanoi and afterwards the German embassy, where they could get an insight on Criminal proceeding in Vietnam as well as on the approach on Vietnamese Civil and Criminal Law by German diplomats. Afterwards a bus set off towards the city of Ha Long, where the Summer School was to be continued. Before holding the Moot Court on Friday, the students received necessary input on the rights of the accused as well as the civil rights of inmates on Thursday.