In March 2023, the School of Law and its Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for the Rule of Law and European Values CRoLEV invited The Hon. Mr. Justice Costas Clerides (Ret’d), a former Judge of the Supreme Court of Cyprus who served as Attorney-General of the Republic of Cyprus from 2013 until 2020 and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Central Lancashire in 2020 (please visit https://www.uclancyprus.ac.cy/honorary-doctorate-awarded-by-uclan-cyprus-to-the-honourable-mr-justice-costas-clerides/), to deliver two Guest Lectures at the UCLan Cyprus campus. CRoLEV is also honoured to count The Hon. Mr. Justice Costas Clerides (Ret’d) among the esteemed members of its Scientific Advisory Board. Please visit https://crolev.eu/scientific-advisory-board/

These Guest Lectures were open to law students, alumni, academics, staff and friends of the School of Law of UCLan Cyprus, of CRoLEV as well as other Schools at University. These Guest Lectures also formed integral part of specific LLB and/or LLM modules at UCLan Cyprus for which attendance was compulsory or highly recommended.

You may view details of the two Guest Lectures below, as well as view full transcripts of the Guest Lectures. The School of Law and CRoLEV at UCLan Cyprus would like to extend once more their many thanks and gratitude to The Hon. Mr. Justice Costas Clerides (Ret’d) and all other persons who assisted in the organisation and delivery of these Guest Lectures.

Guest Lecture No.1, Wednesday 1 March 23, 18:00-19:00, Moot Court Room

TITLE: “The proceedings before the Arbitration Tribunal of ICSID between Marfin Investment Group Holdings S.A and others v. The Republic of Cyprus.”

Brief description

The subject matter of the Lecture is the well-known case of the recourse of MARFIN Investment Group S.A., the late A. Vgenopoulos and a number of other Greek investors in the ex Laiki Bank (Cyprus Popular Bank) against the Republic of Cyprus before the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Centre for Settling Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Paris. Through the arbitration proceedings, the claimants were claiming against the Republic the payment of damages in a sum exceeding 1 billion Euros for loss or damage caused to their investment which was allegedly caused to them through acts or omissions by organs or authorities of the Republic in taking over the affairs of the Bank. Details are given as to the legal status of ICSID and of the Tribunal, as to the handling of the defence in the arbitration proceedings by the Law Office of the Republic, the main position and the legal basis of the arguments put forward by the parties, the proceedings for provisional measures, the hearing of the main recourse and the final award of the Tribunal which unanimously found in favour of Cyprus and dismissed all the claimants’ claims with costs.

Click below for the full transcript.

Guest Lecture No. 2, Wednesday 15 March 23, 13:30-14:30, Moot Court Room

TITLE: “The historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice regarding the legal consequences of the separation of Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius by the United Kingdom in 1965”

Brief description

The case which forms the subject matter of this Lecture arose as a result of a dispute between Mauritius and the United Kingdom regarding the separation of Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in the 1960’s, prior to Mauritius becoming an independent state. The importance of this case, however, lies on the fact that the highest judicial organ on the planet, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations which is based in the Hague, in examining the legal consequences of the separation, dealt with very important issues relating to the fundamental and inalienable right of the peoples of all countries to self – determination. In those proceedings, Cyprus was not directly involved as a party, but had taken active part in it as an interested party. The reasons for that stand appear in the proceedings as well as the answer to the question as to why Cyprus had a special interest in those proceedings.

Click below for the full transcript.