Hybrid Justice: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

By John D. Ciorciari and Anne Heindel

More than thirty years after the fall of the Pol Pot regime, a UN-backed tribunal, fusing Cambodian and international law, procedure, and personnel, was established to try key Khmer Rouge officials for atrocities committed in the late 1970s. In this definitive scholarly treatment of the “Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia” (ECCC) from legal and political perspectives, John D. Ciorciari and Anne Heindel examine the ECCC’s institutional features, compare it to other hybrid and international criminal courts, evaluate its operations, and draw lessons for the future. Ciorciari and Heindel begin by discussing the political factors and historical contingencies that led the United Nations and Cambodian Government to create a hybrid tribunal with a number of unique features. Next, they examine the tribunal’s operations to date, focusing on how its institutional form has affected its various intended functions. They argue that many aspects of the ECCC’s judicial proceedings have been broadly consistent with international standards and that the Court’s in-country location has provided important benefits in terms of public outreach and victim participation. Nevertheless, the authors demonstrate that the ECCC’s complex, divided institutional structure and wrangling between national and international actors have slowed the proceedings, contributed to administrative irregularities, led to due process concerns, and jeopardized the Court’s public legitimacy and ability to leave a legacy of credible justice. Ciorciari and Heindel argue that the ECCC’s experiences reveal many of the challenges of managing a mass crimes process, especially in the context of a hybrid court. They conclude with recommendations on measures that can be taken to meet some of those challenges going forward.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014. 462p.