On 10 July, the final round of the 2026 Chinese edition of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot Court Competition was held in the ICC’s Courtroom I in The Hague, the Netherlands. ICC Judge Keebong Paek served as the presiding judge and formed the bench together with legal officers of the Court. Liaoning University (LNU) was the winner. The Peking University School of Transnational Law and the China-EU School of Law at the China University of Political Science and Law won, respectively, the second and third places. The award for the Best Speaker went to Fang Xinrui of Peking University School of Transnational Law.

  In this round, the team from LNU appeared as the Prosecution Counsel, the team from China-EU School of Law at China University of Political Science and Law as the Counsel for the Government, and the team from Peking University School of Transnational Law as the Defence Counsel. The competition was conducted in Chinese. The teams competed on a fictitious international criminal case and interacted with the judges through simultaneous interpretation. During oral arguments, the teams engaged with the complex facts and theories of international criminal law, analyzed the facts of the case in depth, and drew on a wealth of authoritative sources, including legal rules, case law, and academic writings, to precisely address the three core, disputed issues. During the rebuttal, the teams vigorously argued and forcefully defended their legal positions. When responding to questions from the bench, the advocates accurately identified the judges’ concerns and set forth their arguments on the disputed issues.

Team members during the final round

  The competitors demonstrated rigorous logic, a solid foundation of legal analysis, and strong oral advocacy, leaving a deep impression on the judging panel. After the round, the judges unanimously agreed that all teams had presented distinguished performances.

LNU wins the championship

  Following the court session and the award ceremony, participants attended a reception prepared by the ICC. The judges also attended, talking with the teams and posing for group photographs. They encouraged all competitors to apply the knowledge and skills they had acquired through the moot court to their future studies and practice, and hoped that more and more young legal professionals would pursue a path in international law. The reception concluded with warmth and joy.

  As an important part of the ICC’s multilingual academic programme, the Chinese version of the ICC Moot Court Competition has steadily developed into a key platform bridging Chinese-language legal education with international justice. It not only offers law students the opportunity to experience proceedings of the international court, but also further advances the use of Chinese in the context of international criminal law. It is as much a contest of legal reasoning as a profound integration of language and international justice. The competition was web-streamed live on the Court’s website and social platform, further expanding the influence of the Chinese language in international law.

Translated by: Zeng Xi

Edited by: Gao Mengdi, Liu Hanlin

Proofread by: Li Zhibin

Reviewed by: Jin Jinghua