For more than 25 years, the European alumni of the Academy of American and International Law have held annual reunions. The 2014 reunion was held in Rome, and this year the torch passed to Sarajevo, the capitol of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On October 1, 24 people gathered from all over Europe – Italy, Turkey, FYR Macedonia, Belgium, Albania, Czech Republic, Sweden, Spain, Romania, France and Germany. Outside of Europe, participants came from the U.S. and even from Pakistan and India.
During a beautiful summer, alumni were treated to a wide variety of activities. We visited to the biggest Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Municipal Court of Sarajevo, where Gavrilo Princip was tried for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, in 1914. The President of the Municipal Court, Judge Janja Jovanovic, hosted a reception for the alumni. We also visited the OSCE Mission to BiH, and received a lecture on the War Crimes Trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That was followed by a reception at American Chamber of Commerce and a presentation on doing business in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The president of the Bar Association of Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina also addressed the group and we visited a variety of local sites.
As always, the alumni program was a great opportunity to renew old friendships and to make new ones. As per the Academy spirit in Plano, alumni don't like to say goodbye. Instead, we use the Texas phrase “see y'all again soon”. Next year, we travel to Dublin, Ireland, our reunion host in 2016.
- A report from Dubravka Piotrovski
First row, from left to right: Antoine Lemetais, Richard Bucek, Johan Lambers, Joel Chusid; Second row, from left to right: Karl Wach, Gabriele Wach, Dobrica Arsev, Dragosh Catalin Petrescu, Roxana Dumitrescu; Third row, from left to right: Neritan Kallfa, Shilpy Chowdary; Fourth row, from left to right: Dubravka Piotrovski, Amjad Kamal Butt, Umur Kalac, Mabel Alvarez Giay, Zdenka Michalickova Gianfranco....(Zdenka's husband); Fifth row, from left to right: Cinzia Scallise, Ingrid Kalman, Gloria Carillo, Ase Nillson, Tatjana Arsova