An Unprecedented Opportunity

As I mentioned in the post the other day, we have over 50 law students participating in our joint program between the European Centre for Law and Justice and Regent University.  This international gathering also includes students from Cameroon and South Korea.  Our desire is to train these students to defend human life and religious liberty globally. 

This afternoon, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and I had the pleasure of having lunch with Jean-Paul Costa, President of The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), who has invited our students and faculty to attend an oral argument before the Grand Chamber of the ECHR tomorrow in Strasbourg.  The case concerns one of the most significant terrorism cases that the ECHR has dealt with.  The accused was suspected, among other things, of international terrorism and was arrested and placed in pretrial detention.  Lawyers from Italy and the United Kingdom will be arguing in this case.  By attending this proceeding, our students from Regent University will receive a unique and unprecedented opportunity to see an international tribunal in operation. 

Our students also visited the Council of Europe this afternoon and had an opportunity to observe the interworkings of this legislative body that impacts all of Europe.  Increasingly, courts in the United States are citing international precedents in their opinions.  Being able to shape those court opinions in Europe is a paramount concern for our European Centre for Law and Justice.  We just received word that another one of our religious liberties cases has been accepted by the court for a review, and the briefing process is well underway.  This new case arises out of a religious freedom issue in Bulgaria where 250 churches were closed simultaneously by the Bulgarian government.  Our lawyers are handling this case at the ECHR. 

If you would like to see photographs from the European Council and our meeting with the president of the European Court of Human Rights, please click here.