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The jubilee 10th international conference in honour of the laureate of the 2022 Václav Havel Human Prize

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  • Where: Prague Crossroads, Zlatá 1, Prague
  • When: October 12, 2022, 14:00 – 18:30

Crime and Punishment – Crimes against peace and humanity and the wheels of justice

  • Organisers: Václav Havel Library & Charta 77 Foundation
  • Partners: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Conference Programme

13.30 – 14.00   Registration 

14.00 – 14.10   Conference Opening: Michael Žantovský – Executive Director, Václav Havel Library 

14.10 – 14.20   Keynote Speech: Karim Khan (UK) – Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, barrister and King's Counsel 

14.20 – 14.40   Interview with the 2021 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize laureate

Evgenia Kara-Murza wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza a political prisoner and leading Russian democracy campaigner

Chair: Michael Žantovský – Václav Havel Library

14.40 – 15.25   Panel I: Discussion with 2022 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize finalists

Panellists:
Denys Rabomizo War Crimes Documentation and Database
Coordinator and Member of Secretariat of the coalition of civil society
organisations 5 AM Coalition (Ukraine)

Áaron Demeter Representative of Rainbow Coalition
defending LGBTQIA+ rights (Hungary)

Chair: Linda Bartošová – Journalist and moderator

15.25 – 15.45   Coffee Break

15.45 – 17.00   Panel II: The wheels of justice 

Massive violations of human rights, such as the ones occurring as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, not only present horrific scenes of human suffering and depravity but pose difficult questions of transformational justice. Apart from the imperative of an immediate and unconditional end to the atrocities, it is incumbent on humanity to document and record for posterity every single instance of human rights violation and to bring to justice those responsible, in order to prevent the repetition of such crimes.

The discussion panel will try to examine the respective approaches and their applicability to the events in Ukraine. In particular, it will discuss the scope and the limits of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, various historical forms of war crimes tribunals, the role of the Council of Europe, the EU and the OSCE, the legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the role of memory institutions and NGOs in collecting evidence of the crimes, as well as various forms of retribution and compensation of the victims and their families.

Panellists:

Veronika Bílková – professor of international law focused on international security and human rights, vice president of the European Society of International Law

Vladimír Dzuro – former investigator with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Tomáš Holub – Roman Catholic priest and Plzeň bishop, first Czech military chaplain

Chair: Lenka Kabrhelová – Journalist, reporter, head of the podcast 5:59, Seznam Zprávy

17.00 – 17.20   Coffee Break

17.20 – 18.35   Panel III: Where does evil spring from?

The recent events have also revived one of the most painful questions of the human condition: Is evil a construct we attribute to behaviour for which there is no adequate or acceptable social explanation, or is the capacity for evil an integral and inseparable part of our existence? And if the latter, where do the roots and the triggers of evil come from?

Panellists:

Ksenia Poluektova-Krimer – Russian historian focused on the Holocaust

Lenka Víchová – Ukrainian Studies expert

Jan Vevera – Head of the Psychiatric Clinic at the Pilsen University Hospital and a former army psychiatrist

Chair: Jakub Szántó – Journalist and moderator, Czech Television  

18.25 – 18.40   Closing remarks: Martin Palouš – Diplomat, teacher, Charter 77 signatory and human rights advocate  

18.40 – 18.45   Acknowledgments and invitation for a drink: Michael Žantovský, Václav Havel Library

* The discussions will be held in Czech and English with a simultaneous translation from/into both languages.

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