Response to the Comments by Studzinsky and Schlichte

Our empirical study ‘Victims in Trials of Mass Crimes – A Multi-Perspective Study of Civil Party Participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’ 1 attempts to explore the value of civil party participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The study aims at identifying issues related to the procedural model as such, trying then to turn those into recommendations. To this end, we believed it was crucial to understand the meaning of civil party participation for both victims and legal professionals involved in the proceedings, in order to compare its ‘human side’ with a legal perspective. Our research is characterized by a multidisciplinary (social sciences and law) approach as well as a broad technical and non-technical perspective on the trials (victims and legal professionals). This is to complement existing quantitative studies which included victims only. Broadening the perspective by interviewing civil parties, civil party lawyers, judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and non-governmental organizations has made it possible to add legal and procedural aspects to the debate. Using qualitative research enabled us to explore the participant’s views in greater depth. Our research design was meant to grant maximum openness with regards to the results. Both the method of data collection (semi-structured, qualitative interviews characterized by open questions) and the method of data interpretation were chosen accordingly

Interpretation (philosophy · Interview · Meaning (existential · Openness to experience · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Cambodian History and Society · Psychology · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Law · Social Psychology