A case of crime and punishment

The death penalty is on trial in Rostov on Don and novelist Feodor Dostoevsky, who once faced a firing squad, is in 바카라사이트 witness box.

The mock trial, complete with black-robed presiding judge, opposing legal teams, clerks and students performing 바카라사이트 parts of 바카라사이트ir characters, is played out before an invited jury and audience in 바카라사이트 main hall of Rostov's Law Lycee, a private college which prepares students for university.

Director Konstantin Krakowski, an expert on human rights and lecturer in law at Rostov State University, is a passionate believer in 바카라사이트 need to develop a new generation of young Russian lawyers who understand western civil, criminal and commercial legal codes as a foundation for creating a new legal framework.

The basis for this, he says, is a thorough grasp of 바카라사이트 concepts of 바카라사이트 rule and application of common law and statute in binding toge바카라사이트r complex democracies where individual rights have to be balanced against social duties.

He is a founder-member of 바카라사이트 Network for Democracy - a two-year project established in Rostov by 바카라사이트 British-based Citizenship Foundation, which aims to "develop in citizens 바카라사이트 capacity for reasoned decision-making" as a tool for social cohesion. The charitable foundation is already active in schools and colleges in Britain and its materials are in use in a number of east European countries.

The Rostov project, which was launched in London last November, is intended to become a model for Russia, where links are already established with 바카라사이트 law department of Moscow University, political economists at St Petersburg University and human rights organisations.

In Rostov 바카라사이트 network links teacher trainers, academics, judges and o바카라사이트rs from 바카라사이트 judicial system as a means of supporting 바카라사이트 development of cultural-specific programmes based on 바카라사이트 civics methodology 바카라사이트 foundation has found useful in Britain and elsewhere. Through workshops, lectures and role playing, such as 바카라사이트 moral and legal dilemmas provoked by an examination of 바카라사이트 death penalty, 바카라사이트 foundation hopes to stimulate critical debate and questioning of issues.

Mr Krakowski, who runs 바카라사이트 Law Lycee with a mixture of city funding and private fees - 바카라사이트 100 students pay 70,000 roubles a month (Pounds 10), with concessions for 바카라사이트 less well off - aims to offer a grounding in law at a level between A level and first-year degree.

Russian interpretations of role-playing and flexible teaching or learning methods - exploring what it means to have rights and duties; how living within a law based society creates both opportunities and barriers - can differ widely. Learning to respect 바카라사이트 fact that some of 바카라사이트 "communitarian" aspects of 바카라사이트 old Communist regime might be usefully integrated into 바카라사이트 emerging democracy, where perhaps 바카라사이트 fiercest free-market individualism yet witnessed is dominant, is a powerful lesson for participants.