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FACULTY OF BUSINESS Department of Law, Public Service and Education Law Continuous Assessment Brief Programme Title and Year: Law & Criminal Justice/Spanish - LLB Winter Semester, Academic year 2022/23. Module Title: Human Rights Assessment Title: Continuous Assessment: Human Rights ECHR Trial Cormac Conaghan Internal examiner: External Examiner: Continuous Assessment -Percentage of total Semester Assessment: 30 % Faculty of Business Assessment Policy documents can be found in ‘Student Guidelines’ at the following link: Submission Date: Instructions: See overleaf Your client is Geraldine who has come into your office seeking advice as to whether she has a course of action in the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. The circumstances are described as follows. On March 26th 2020, Marcus Costigan was fatally wounded when he was hit by a snipers bullet during a mission undertaken by the Emergency Response Unit to bring a hostage situation at the O2 Arena in Dublin to a conclusion On the occasion in question, an armed right-wing group called Apocalypse Horizon led by Henrik Blitzer, had launched an armed raid and taken 650 people hostage, dressed as extras in the production. Marcus was one of a company of actors who been preforming at the time. The group barricaded the entrances and rigged strategic points of entry with explosive charges. They gathered the hostages in numerous locations and appointed a captor to stand charge over each group armed with a high velocity weaponry and hand grenades. The group contact the hostage negotiators following pleas and issue their central demands of $150 million, safe passage out of the country and release of all their prisoners in Ireland. If the demands are not met hostages will be shot at the rate of 10 every hour following the cessation of negotiations. The ERU Commander Ralph Power, arrived at the scene some 20 mins after the siege was reported. He quickly draws up contingency plans to launch a coordinated strike in the event of action being required. He requests architectural blueprints and calls in additional units to be scrambled to the scene. Power directs those asked to field requests from Blitzer to play for time and to relay the message that he alone will need to approve interim requests. Blitzer is offered food and water in return for assurances on hostage safety. Blitzer snaps back that his team are “not in town for a picnic” and Commander Power best not take him lightly. The situation quickly becomes volatile and Henrik Blitzer states that he has seen no evidence of compliance with his demands, he states that he believes his group is not being taken seriously. Shortly after a small explosion is detonated. Blitzer sends word that this is just a taste of what is to happen. Commander Power decides that action is required and arranges for a tactical unit to scale the blind side perimeter wall and enter the building through the ventilation duct. Three operatives duly complete this task and install surveillance equipment which allows the ERU to observe actions inside the theatre. Shortly thereafter shots are fired. Commander Power observes panic inside and decides action must now be taken. He orders a full-scale assault on the building on all sides and through the roof. Tear gas and smoke bombs are fired into the auditorium and armed officers quickly fire at those identified as terrorists. In the commotion, panicked and disoriented by the smoke and gas Marcus stumbles and moves toward one of the officers. Mistaken as a terrorist he is shot dead by a sniper who was providing cover for the raiding party from the roof. Marcus was noted to have been wearing a replica side arm when his body was examined, however this was noted to be due to his role in the play. In the aftermath of the operation 14 terrorists are shot dead and 8 hostages are fatally wounded including Marcus, a further 86 are treated for minor injuries and shock. Commander Power issues a statement congratulating his officers on the operation whilst lamenting the unfortunate loss of life. He states that whilst all operations were taken with the utmost of care, sometimes deaths were unavoidable. Commander Power noted that there was no alternative in the circumstances and that lives were saved by his teams’ actions. He notes questions were asked as to why an emergency contingency plan was not available, but notes that all plans cease to have rigid application with the first interaction with the enemy. In the investigation that followed the officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing. It was noted that the situation had been fluid and unpredictable. This investigation concluded on the 28th of August 2023. Geraldine sought to seek a judicial review of the inquiry but was unsuccessful and Geraldine has been refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in September 2023 She has been told that this is her last course of action domestically. She wonders if any other avenues exist. Team Presentation Booklet of Documents Each team will be responsible for the composition of two sets of documents 1. The informal and formal application for the applicant, irrespective of which team they will be representing, to enter the European Court of Human Rights 2. Each team will then submit a copy of all arguments made before the court, for their respective side. This is inclusive of any additional documents which are drafted at the discretion of the respective teams. Court Presentation The court element of the task will be comprised of the following key stages: opening statement, witness testimony, examination in chief/ cross examination and closing statement. 1. Opening statement: This statement will endeavour to lay out the arguments that the respective teams intend to rely upon, it should explain the complexities of the area in question and suggest how this will support the argument the arguments to be made. Maximum 5 minutes per team 2. Witness Testimony: the witness testimony will be two fold, the respective teams will have the chance to introduce their witness (either the applicant or the psychiatrist). The team will then lead their witness through their testimony to the court (examination in chief) and then the witnesses will be cross examined by the other side. Maximum 10 minutes per examination of witness. 3. Closing Statement: The purpose of the closing statement is to reemphasise all the key points made by the team and to rely on any precedent that may have been unearthed. This should be succinct and to the point in order that the maximum effect is reached. Maximum 5 minutes per team. Team captains will be responsible for allocating meaningful roles to all team members. If however team captains are having difficulty getting the co-operation of any team member then they should bring this matter to my attention ASAP. In extreme circumstances of non-compliance then the team member will be expelled from the team and compelled to complete an individual task. The Witness statements for both teams should be exchanged by team captains on or before the 8th December 2023. The final trials will now place on the 14th and 15th of December 2023 to allow adequate time for preparation. OR Individual Submission An individual can now decide if you are going to represent the applicant or the state in this instance. You should then arrange to submit a written document which outline your arguments in detail. There is no maximum word count, but the submission should not be less than 2000 words. The second part of the individual assignment is to record (or present in person) and submit a presentation of the arguments as outlined. This need not speak exactly to the points made but should summarise the principal arguments. This should be at least 10 mins in duration.