By Karim Azhari, Y11
Civitas Maxima is a Swiss NGO that fights for justice on behalf of major crime victims. This Wednesday, Civitas Maxima held a mock trial, along with Philanthropic Adventures, an educational platform, which involved students of Ecolint who participated in several workshops with the NGO to be able to play the roles of courtroom figures.
The trial was set in a country called Ulamalu and a war that theoretically emerged there. The defendant went by Thomas “Eagle eyes” Wolf Smith. He was accused of mass murder, cannibalism, torture and other unspeakable acts during the war. Although the context of the trial was fictional, Alain Werner, the founder of the organization, claimed that the facts were based on true events and were “not exaggerated by any means”. Similar events have happened in war and are sometimes unspoken of.
The trial commenced with the journalist who presented the situation. After that, the judge declared each witness, who testified and was both examined and cross-examined in some cases. The 3 prosecution witnesses talked about their horrendous experiences and stated that Eagle Eyes was responsible for the situations they were put in, including: torture, cannibalism and underage recruitment. They all claimed to be sure of his identity. The defence witness then addressed the situation. He affirmed that Thomas Wolf Smith was a generous man who would never commit such sinful acts. However, he lost his credibility when he confirmed that he had never talked about war with the defendant himself, after having been cross-examined. Lastly, Eagle eyes seized the opportunity to defend himself and denied everything he was accused of stating that he was forced to commit certain acts as he was threatened to be killed and was under the influence of drugs. All of this was taken into account, and the jury decided to pronounce the defendant guilty. T he judge adjourned the trial to come up with a fair sentence.
The students described the experience as “eye-opening”, “intense”, and “amazing”, and I, as a spectator, share these viewpoints. The trial was intense and explosive, both sides did not hold back and continuously attempted to build their arguments and invalidate the other side’s claims. Every second of it felt real. I quickly became invested in it and couldn’t wait to hear the verdict. The team behind this event should be acclaimed for giving the students this unique opportunity to raise awareness. Overall, it was truly a great success!
