The Media Law Institute conducted the International Media Law Summer School during 3 weeks – from July 6 till July 24, 2009 in Kyiv.

International Media Law Summer School is an intensive training course for lawyers on different media law issues: freedom of expression and freedom of information, protection of honour, dignity and business reputation, regulation of TV and radio broadcasting, regulation of Internet etc. Special attention is given to International and European standards in the sphere of media law, in particular, to the European Convention of Human Rights and case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Ukrainian legislation is also examined.

The School is held yearly since year 2005. This year 26 lawyers from 7 countries passed the training. These include Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Azerbaidjan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 50 % of participants represented Ukraine.

The objectives of conducting International Media Law Summer School were:

• raising professional level of lawyers in the sphere of Media Law;
• raising level of legal protection of mass media;
• networking of media lawyers from different regions and different countries;
• raising level of legislation drafting skills of media lawyers;

Altogether there were carried out 43 2-hour-long studies. A court trial role game was the final action before diploma. The European standards in the media law sphere and the European Court of Human Rights cases were accentuated during the Summer School.

Besides formal studies, there were organized some actions to get participants into contact. For example, the Summer School participants made the presentations about their countries.

Qualified experts from Ukraine and other countries conducted trainings for the Summer School participants. Inparticular:

• Boyko Boyev (Lawyer, Article 19, London, Great Britain);
• David Goldberg (media expert, Glasgow,  Scotland);
• Andriy Richter (Director of Moscow Media Law and Policy Center, Media Law teacher from School of Journalism of Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia)
• Olena Dmytrenko (the European Court on Human Rights lawyer, Strasburg,France);
• Aleksey Minbaleev ( Teacher of ChelyabinskStateUniversity, Chelyabinsk, Russia);
• KorthalsAltes (Judge, Amsterdam, Holland);
• Peter Noorlander, (Chef of Legal ServiceMedia Legal Defense Initiative, London, UK);
• Valeria Lutkovska (Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• JuryZaytsev (Ukrainian GovernmentAgentinthe European Court on Human Rights, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Ali Safarov (Attorney, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Andriy Shevchenko (MP, First Deputy Head of the Parliament Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Diana Protsenko (Senior Teacher of National university of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, partner of “Law centre “Legal workshop”, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Ivan Lozovyy (Director, Amber Global Consulting, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Nataliya Petrova (Attorney, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Tetyana Shmaryova (Attorney, law firm “V.Teterskiy and partners”, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Tetyana Smirnova (Attorney, partner of law firm “Varlamov and partners”, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Vsevolod Rechytskiy (Constitutional Expert of Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, associate professor of Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine);
• Vyacheslav Yakubenko (Attorney, Kyiv, Ukraine);
• Yegor Sobolyev (Journalist, Head of Journalist Investigations Bureau “Svidomo”, Kyiv, Ukraine) ;
• Igor Rozkladay (Lawyer, Media Law Institute).

The Summer School was held in close cooperation with partners from Article 19 and International Media Support.