Falilou Diop, 33 years old, from Senegal, is the winner of the 2022 Prize of the Association of Francophone High Courts of Cassation (AHJUCAF), while Rindra Harizo, 32 years old, from Madagascar, received the special mention of this prize. Their respective prizes were awarded on Friday, October 21 at the French Court of Cassation.
The prize was given by the first president of the French Court of Cassation, Christophe Soulard, and the first president of the Beninese Supreme Court, Victor Dassi Adossou, during the meeting of the board of the Association of French-speaking High Courts of Cassation (AHJUCAF) which was held on the same day, October 21. The ceremony was organized in the presence of the president of the jury of the competition Florence Aubry-Girardin of the Swiss Federal Court, who chaired a mixed jury of judges and academics. The winning thesis will be published and distributed.
The AHJUCAF brings together the supreme jurisdictions of the French-speaking countries. The prize rewards the work of a book or thesis that contributes to the promotion of the rule of law and justice in the French-speaking world. The AHJUCAF brings together some fifty French-speaking supreme judicial courts.
A thesis of high formal quality
The jury of the 2022 edition of the AHJUCAF Prize for the Promotion of Law met on June 29, 2022 in Cotonou (Benin), on the eve of the VIIth Congress of the AHJUCAF. Unanimously, the AHJUCAF Prize 2022 for the promotion of the law was awarded to the Senegalese Falilou Diop for his thesis: “Uniformization of the intellectual property law and conflicts of laws in the OAPI”, carried out under the direction of Edouard Treppoz, professor at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, defended at the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, on November 23, 2021.
The thesis of the young Senegalese jurist has been described as a research of great formal quality. “It deals in a theoretical and practical way with the question of the uniformity of law in general in a determined geographical space, confronted with the private international law of intellectual property. Mr. Diop proposes practical solutions to regulate conflicts of law within the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI),” said the jury.
Falilou Diop will receive 3,000 euros in publishing assistance for the book that will result from this research.
Falilou Diop, 33, qualified by the CNU, is currently a lecturer at the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3. In 2015, he was a legal trainee in the engineering entrepreneurship program (FIE Lyon Tech) of the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA-Lyon), intellectual property/digital technology law.
From 2011 to 2014, Falilou Diop was deputy head of the pedagogical committee of the OHADA Club (Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa) at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar.
Falilou Diop holds a Ph.D. in private law, majoring in international private law, from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3; a Master 2 in intellectual property law from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3; and a Master 1 in business law from the University Cheick Anta Diop of Dakar.
Criminal Justice in Madagascar
A special mention was awarded to Rindra Randriamahefarilala for her thesis on Malagasy criminal justice defended in Montpellier on December 14, 2021 and entitled “Malagasy criminal justice: between the colonial heritage and the right to a fair trial”. The thesis was conducted under the supervision of Olivier Sautel, professor at the University of Montpellier. She is the first Malagasy to be awarded this prize.
In this 345-page thesis, Rindra Harizo traces the evolution of Malagasy criminal justice from the time of colonization, by relating it to the international standard of the right to a fair trial. In this undertaking, the author highlights the undeniable progress made over time and also highlights the ills of the system through an analysis of the real power of the judge, the gap between the law and practice and the citizen’s contempt for justice. After a historical perspective of Malagasy justice, the thesis draws a picture without complacency of the Malagasy criminal justice system with its advances in terms of the principles of fair trial in the texts but also its realities in the face of judicial under-administration, lack of means, corruption and mistrust of citizens.
The jury underlined the scarcity of academic research on Malagasy justice and wished that the young jurist of the future could see her work published with the support of the AHJUCAF.
Investigating judge and teacher
Rindra Harizo holds a doctorate in private law and criminal sciences from the University of Montpellier; a Master 2 in international law from the University of Limoges (distance learning via the Agence Universitaire Francophone) as well as a master’s degree in environmental law and management from the University of Fianarantsoa, where she was valedictorian at the entrance and graduation. In the competitive examination for the judiciary, she also graduated first in her class of judicial magistrates in 2013.
Rindra Harizo is also certified by the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg and was selected as one of the 20 laureates benefiting from the training at the Academy of International Criminal Law in Nuremberg (Germany), for its second francophone class (2021).
Rindra Harizo has been an investigating judge at the Anti-Corruption Pole in Madagascar since June 2020, in charge of corruption and related offenses, economic offenses and financial offenses. From 2018 to 2020, she was an investigating judge at the head of the investigation department for complex cases. From May 2013 to January 2018, she was a judge at the Court of First Instance of Tamatave, a port city on the east coast of Madagascar.
Rindra Harizo teaches commercial law at the University of Fianarantsoa. She conducts some research work focused mainly on the Malagasy Justice, whose latest results, on the status of the judge in Madagascar, were presented to the Malagasy Academy of Sciences and Letters on June 9, 2022.
Representative of law associations
Since August 2022, Rindra Harizo is the representative of the Association for the Unification of Law in Africa (UNIDA/OHADA.com). Among her first missions, she is co-directing, with Olivier Bustin, lawyer, doctor of law of the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, teacher at the OHADA Interuniversity diploma of the Universities of Paris Panthéon-Assas and Sorbonne Paris Nord, the realization of a book on comparative business law Madagascar-OHADA.
Since January 2022, Rindra Harizo is the representative of the ACP Legal Indian Ocean association in Madagascar. The association works on Mayotte, Comoros and Madagascar on a large training project in economic regionalization law. This project includes a training component for professionals and an initial training in Master 2 in regional economic integration law, given in Madagascar, the first of its kind in Africa.
Popularization of law and judicial procedures
Rindra Harizo is also the creator of “Lalàna sy Fitsarana” (Law and Justice), a digital platform that works in the popularization of law and judicial procedures in Madagascar. The Facebook page, of the same name, proceeds with explanations of the points of law in Malagasy. It has a vocation of citizen education, intended for targets with low level of education. The page counts today more than 25 thousand subscribers. For a year, several magistrates, through this page, have been sharing free tutorials to prepare for the competitive examination for access to the judiciary.
“Law is not a profession, it is a vocation, and above all a way of being. One does not study law to make law, one studies law to prevent conflicts, if necessary, to help resolve them peacefully. You must adhere to this noble consideration of what will be your role in a society, today, in strong juridicization of all its sectors. From this consideration is born the passion for Law, and from the passion are born the curiosity and the effort, which are essential to succeed in your studies”, said Rindra Harizo during an interview with codepenalsn.com.
The jury of the AHJUCAF Prize 2022 was composed of :
– Mrs. Florence AUBRY GIRARDIN, President of the IInd Court of Public Law of the Federal Court of Switzerland, Vice-president of AHJUCAF, elected president of the jury
– Mr. Sourou Innocent AVOGNON, President of the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Benin, representing Mr. Victor Dassi ADOSSOU, President of the Supreme Court of Benin, Vice-President of AHJUCAF
– Mr. Jean-Paul JEAN, Honorary President of Chamber at the Court of Cassation of France, Secretary General of AHJUCAF, Rapporteur
– Mrs. Elise ZAHI, Program Officer at the Directorate of Political Affairs and Democratic Governance, representing the International Organization of the Francophonie (in videoconference from Paris)
– Ms. Tatiana DEKADJEVI, Research professor at the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin)
– Mr. Fabrice HOURQUEBIE, Professor of public law at the University of Bordeaux (by videoconference from Paris)
– Mr. El Hadji Malick SOW, Honorary President of the Chamber, AHJUCAF regional representative, representing Mr. Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane COULIBALY, President of the Supreme Court of Senegal, AHJUCAF Vice President
