Writing Exercise

Cinema for Peace Foundation
Julia Betegh
1, A.
Film: Navalny (2022)
This film, which bears the Russian opposition leader’s name, portrays clearly what it is like to
oppose Putin’s regime. The plot follows Navalny’s assassination, the lead-up to it, as well as the
incredible way Navalny managed to uncover the truth through a prank call.
Daniel Roher’s film is crucial for getting a glimpse inside present-day Russian politics and the
threats the opposition faces for trying to stand up to the authoritarian regime. Navalny’s political
struggles represent how broken Russian democracy is, but also the hope for resistance and a
better future. It has been well received by critics and popular audiences alike, winning in two
categories at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Speaker: Dmitry Muratov

Dmitry Muratov is a journalist, television presenter and editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper
Novaya Gazeta. Muratov received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to safeguard
freedom of expression and democracy. He recently auctioned off the Prize to aid Ukrainian
refugee children displaced by the war. Muratov is widely celebrated for heading the only
newspaper in Russia that is truly critical of the government and for uncovering political and
social affairs. Sadly, Novaya Gazeta had to suspend its activities in March 2022. Muratov would
be an excellent speaker on the topic of “Threats to democracy in Russia”, which is what he is
fighting against on a daily basis.
1, B.
Film: Eternal Spring (2022)
Following the hijacking of Chinese state TV by members of the spiritual group Falun Gong,
Eternal Spring follows the lives of political and religious dissidents in China and the brutal hand
with which they are repressed. The film brings to life Daxiong’s beautiful comics, mixing genres
between animation and interview footage.
Eternal Spring is a unique and important piece of cinema, shedding light on a topic that is not
discussed nearly enough. The film was screened as part of the Human Rights Watch Film
Festival this year.
Speaker: Kiwi Chow

Kiwi Chow is a celebrated filmmaker and guest lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts. His films explore themes around human rights and political oppression in
China. He was one of the directors of Ten Years (2015), which has been praised as one of the
most important films about China in the past decade. Unsurprisingly, it has been under heavy
censorship by the Chinese government. Chow’s latest work about the Hong Kong protests, titled
Revolution of Our Time (2021) was shown at the “Special Screening” section of the 2021
Cannes Film Festival and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary in 2021. As a
fiercely brave critic of the oppressive Chinese regime through his work, I believe Chow would be
the perfect speaker for the topic.
1, C.
Film: Coded Bias (2020)
Coded Bias is a film that offers an uncomfortable insight into how racial biases are coded into
the technologies that surround us. After a Black MIT student discovers that her face is
unrecogniseable by many facial recognition programmes, she sets out to investigate the ways in
which technology discriminates against POC and the effects this has on people’s lives.
Shalini Kantayya’s documentary is a crucial film for trying to untangle how social media and big
tech can widen social inequality, particularly as tech is often understood as unbiased and
neutral. Coded Bias premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won several awards.
Speaker: Jehane Noujaim

Jehane Noujaim is an Academy Award-nominated film director. Among many successful
projects, she co-directed The Great Hack (2019), which revealed the Cambridge Analytica
scandal and the shocking ways in which social media has influenced politics. Her work received
The Cinema for Peace Award for the Most Valuable Documentary of the Year 2020, as well as
an Emmy nomination. Noujaim would be a valuable speaker not only for her impressive portfolio
but also for her insight into breaking into an industry that is still male-dominated.
2, A.
By invading Ukraine, experts agree that Russia has violated International Law, laid down in
Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of military force against another country
(King’s College London).
Since the invasion, Russia has committed a series of war crimes and human rights abuses. A
UN report published on 30th June 2022, covering the period between February to mid-May,
reveals an extensive list of war crimes committed by Russian troops, and to some lesser extent
Ukraine.
Some of the key points include:

-nearly 5000 confirmed civilian deaths
-targeting civilian infrastructure – notably deliberate attacks on the Mariupol Maternity House
and Children’s Hospital and the Mariupol Theatre – destroying 21 hospitals in total
-gender-based violence and sexual violence, including confirmed cases of rape, gang-rape, and
forced public stripping
-cutting food and water supplies by blockading ports in Odesa, including 25 million tonnes of
grain – the World Food Programme has called on Russia repeatedly to allow the exports to
leave the ports
-forced conscription of Russian citizens
-arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, including journalists
-mistreatment of prisoners of war, such as refusing to provide adequate medical treatment
-civic freedoms, such as freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association have been
drastically obstructed within Russia and those expressing opposition to the war can face 15
years in prison (CIVICUS Monitor)
2, B.
Although the persecution of war criminals has already begun – including the sentencing of
Vadim Shishimarin, who admitted to murdering a 62-year-old civilian (Casciani, 2022) – the road
to larger-scale international accountability is long and rather bleak.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is primarily responsible for
promoting human rights in the UN system and has the authority to investigate cases and report
on them.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have been set
up to uphold International Law. The latter rules on disputes between states, but cannot
prosecute individuals. The UN Security Council (UNSC) enforces the Court’s decisions.
However, Russia being one of the Council’s permanent five members can veto any sanction
against it.
In contrast, the ICC investigates and prosecutes individual war criminals. Due to limited
capacity, only very high-profile individuals tend to be dealt with by the Court. There have been
calls to bring Vladimir Putin before the court, however, the ICC relies on individual states to
arrest suspects - which is very unlikely to happen in Russia’s case.
In sum, although there are bodies responsible for enforcing International Law, in practice there
are various legal and logistical limitations that make it unlikely that justice will be served. It
should also be noted that the ICC’s previous successful convictions mostly included individuals
from smaller and politically less significant states.
2, C.
For the reasons detailed above, the UN evidently lacks the power to enforce accountability in
the case of Russia. The task of putting political pressure on the Russian state thus falls on civil
society.
Private persons and grassroots organisations can enforce political accountability in the context
of an International People’s Tribunal. The strength of such a solution lies in the fact that a
Tribunal would not be bound by the checks and balances that make the ICC and the ICJ
essentially ineffective. Even if the International Courts do proceed with a hearing, the findings of
a People’s Tribunal could contribute with valuable evidence. By invoking existing International
Law – that many agree Russia has violated – the Tribunal could gain more legitimacy and
support from the wider international community. A People’s Tribunal offers the promise of
delivering justice and dignity to victims of war crimes and centres their voices (Byrnes and
Simm, 2018).
However, it is also important to acknowledge some of the limitations that an International

People’s Tribunal would face. It would lack formal enforcement capabilities, having neither
judicial nor executive power (Cheah, 2022). Whilst a tribunal would be useful in putting pressure
on Russia and raising international attention to breaches of International Law, I am doubtful that
it would have the ability to truly deliver justice.
References
Byrnes, A., & Simm, G. (2018). Reflections on the Past and Future of International Peoples’
Tribunals. In A. Byrnes & G. Simm (Eds.), Peoples' Tribunals and International Law (pp.
259-273). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108368360.012
Casciani, Dominic (2022) “What is a war crime and could Putin be prosecuted over Ukraine?”,
BBC News, 7 July, accessed 18 July 2022, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60690688
Cheah, W.L. "The Potential and Limits of Peoples' Tribunals as Legal Actors: Revisiting the
Tokyo Women's Tribunal." Transnational Legal Theory Ahead-of-print.Ahead-of-print (2022):
1-23. Web.
CIVICUS Monitor (2022) “Civic Freedoms Continue to Deterriorate in the Backdrop of Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine”, 28 April, accessed on 18 July 2022,
https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2022/04/28/civic-freedoms-continue-deteriorate-backdrop-rus
sias-invasion-ukraine/
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Mr Justin Addison, UK delegation to the
OSCE (2022) “Russia cannot be allowed to hold world’s food supply to ransom: UK statement to
the OSCE”, Gov.uk, 14 June, accessed on 18 July 2022,
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/russia-cannot-be-allowed-to-hold-worlds-food-supply-t
o-ransom-uk-statement-to-the-osce
United Nations (2022) “Protect Human Rights”, accessed 18 July 2022,

https://www.un.org/en/our-work/protect-human-rights
United Nations (2022) “The situation of human rights in Ukraine in the context of the armed
attack by the Russian Federation”, 30 June, accessed on 18 June 2022,
https://ukraine.un.org/en/188379-situation-human-rights-ukraine-context-armed-attack-russian-f
ederation
Varaki, Maria (2022) “How has Russia violated international law?”, King’s College London, 28
February, accessed on 18 June 2022,
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/how-has-russia-violated-international-law

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Cinema for Peace Foundation

Speaker: Dmitry Muratov

Speaker: Kiwi Chow

Speaker: Jehane Noujaim

Some of the key points include:

However, it is also important to acknowledge some of the limitations that an International

United Nations (2022) “Protect Human Rights”, accessed 18 July 2022,

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