In The Shadow of Territorial Conflict Symposium: Legacies of Soviet-era Media Control and Speech Norms

Schedule 

*Subject to change 

8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.	Continental Breakfast/Check-In Sponsored by Southwestern's Armenian Law Students Association
9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.	Welcome/ Opening Remarks Dean Darby Dickerson, Prof. Michael Epstein, and Lucy Varpetian
9:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.	Panel One
10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.	Break
10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Panel Two
12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.	Panel Three
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.	Reception

 

Andrei Richter — Keynote Speaker

Modern Reading of ‘Propaganda for War’: International Response to Hostile Speech in Post-Soviet Armed Conflicts

Andrei Richter is Researcher Professor at Comenius University in Bratislava and an Adjunct Professor at Webster University in Vienna.

From 2011 to 2022, he served as Director and a Senior Adviser at the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Richter holds university degrees in law, journalism, and foreign languages; he has authored more than 250 publications on media law and policy. 

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Robert Avetisyan

Weaponization of Social Media: The Case of the Karabakh Conflict  

 In 2009, Robert Avetisyan was appointed Permanent Representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh) to the United States.

From 2008 to 2009, Robert served as Counselor at the NKR Office in Washington, DC. Prior to that, from 1999 to 2008, he served in the analytical and political departments of Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry.

Avetisyan holds a bachelor’s degree in philology from the Artsakh State University, a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University), and a master’s degree in international development policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University.

Robert was born in Stepanakert, Artsakh.

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Rajika L. Shah 

Social Media Liability in the Azerbaijan-Artsakh-Armenia Conflict

Rajika L. Shah is the Clinical Director of the Loyola Genocide Justice Clinic and the Deputy Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Genocide at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles).

Prior to joining Loyola, Rajika litigated international human rights and restitution cases on behalf of Armenian and Sudanese genocide victims, indigenous groups, and religious and ethnic minorities at both trial and appellate levels. She also represented Libyan terrorist hijacking victims before the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

She is the author of numerous publications and was instrumental in developing Oxford Reports on International Law (ORIL).

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Andrej Školkay 

Foreign Policy Discourse: Misinformation and Disinformation in the Legacy Media and on Social Media Produced by EU Journalists, Diplomats, Experts and Fact-checking/Debunking Initiatives

Dr. Andrej Školkay is a research director of the School of Communication and Media, Bratislava, Slovakia (EU).

He has published widely on media and politics, especially on political communication, but also on ethics, media regulation, populism, social media, and media law. Dr. Školkay was a member of the Press Council of Slovakia in the years 2005-2008 and is secretary of the Slovak Political Science Association.

He obtained his Ph.D. in 2000 from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

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Ines Gillich

Media Coverage and State Propaganda in Armed Conflicts - An International Law Perspective at the Armenia-Azerbaijan "Propaganda War.”

Ines Gillich is a Professor of Public International Law.

She earned a Ph.D. (Dr. iur.) from the University of Mainz, Germany (2014), an LL.M. from the University of California, Los Angeles (2015), and a post-doc qualification (Dr. iur. habil.) from the University of Cologne, Germany (2021).

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András Koltay

Censorship as a Tool Against State Disinformation – The Freedom of Expression Implications of the Russian-Ukrainian War

Dr. András Koltay is a research professor at the University of Public Service (Budapest). He is also a professor of law at Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences in Budapest, Hungary.

His recent monograph on free speech is New Media and Freedom of Expression (Hart 2019).

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Russell L. Weaver 

The Ukrainian Conflict, Social Media Disinformation and Propaganda

Russell L. Weaver is Professor of Law and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.

The author of hundreds of books and articles, Professor Weaver has been a visiting professor at law schools in France, Hungary, Portugal, England, Germany, Japan, Australia and Canada.

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Arman Asryan

The Compliance of Artsakh’s (Nagorno-Karabakh) Media Regulations with the Internationally Recognized Standards of Media Freedom 

Arman Asryan studied Law (Bachelor’s degree) at Artsakh State University, Stepanakert, and later studied Human Rights and Civil Liberties (LL.M.) at Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles.

Arman has been employed at the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office of the Artsakh Republic and currently works at Concern Dialog Law firm in Yerevan.

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Galena Slavova 

The Shadow of Russian Imperialism: Russian Propaganda Models Since February 2022 and Their Legal Aspect

Galena Slavova teaches at Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Changzhou, Peoples Republic of China.

Slavova is a former Bulgarian government official responsible for digitalizing national judicial registers and European Union judiciary funding  projects. She worked as a European Criminal Records Bulgarian Coordinator and became the first female deputy CEO of the Bulgarian State Register Agency.

• Arman Asryan, The Compliance of Artsakh's (Nagorno-Karabakh) Media Regulations with the Internationally Recognized Standards of Media Freedom
• Robert Avetisyan, The Role of Social Media in Creating Narratives: The Case of the Conflict Between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh
• Elena Cordonean, Moldovan Media as a Mouthpiece for Political Propaganda: State of the Media in a Post-Soviet Country from a Post-Soviet Perspective
• Ines Gillich, Media Coverage and State Propaganda in Armed Conflicts - An International Law Perspective at the Armenia-Azerbaijan "Propaganda War"
• András Koltay, Censorship as a Tool Against State Disinformation – The Freedom of Expression Implications of the Russian–Ukrainian War
• Monroe E. Price & Adam P. Barry, Combating Russian Disinformation in Ukraine: Case Studies in a Market for Loyalties
• Angin Mgrdunts, Crimes Committed by Azerbaijan Against Prisoners of War and Civilians in the 2020 Artsakh War
• Andrei Richter, Modern Perception of "Propaganda For War": International Response to Hostile Speech in the Post-Soviet Armed Conflicts
• Rajika L. Shah, International Liability for Social Media Companies in Artsakh
• Elena Sherstoboeva, Defamation Law in Russia in the Context of the Council of Europe (COE) Standards on Media Freedom
• Andrej Školkay, Foreign Policy Discourse: Misinformation and Disinformation in the Legacy Media and on Social Media Produced by Journalists, Diplomats, Experts and Factchecking/Debunking Initiatives in the Visegrad Four Countries Compared with Policies Tackling Disinformation: An Exploratory Study or When Alternative Reality in Foreign Affairs is the King and Freedom of Speech on Platforms is the Queen
• Galena Slavova, The Shadow of Russian Imperialism: Russian Propaganda Models Since February 2022, and Their Legal Aspect
• Russell L. Weaver, Social Media, Propaganda and the Ukranian Conflict