A/HRC/34/62 direct or indirect victims, can have harmful effects, incentivizing their own struggles for differentiation and also posing risks for them upon return to their communities. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 44. The scope and form of victim participation as practised within the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia have been enhanced by the unprecedented characterization of victims as full parties to the proceedings, rather than mere participants. 39 The contours of this expanded role emerged only with the adoption of the internal rules of the Extraordinary Chambers.40 This led to early legal and procedural challenges, producing frequent revisions of the internal rules governing civil party participation in an attempt to preserve substantial space for victim participation while ensuring fairness and efficiency in the proceedings. 45. Early in proceedings before the Extraordinary Chambers, a victim is required to choose whether s/he wants to participate as a witness, as a victim-complainant or as a civil party. As civil parties, victims have the right to full access to the case file, to make limited pretrial and trial appeals, to make procedural and factual submissions, to attend hearings, to request witnesses, to question witnesses, to question the accused, to make closing arguments, to rebut the closing arguments of the accused and to request reparations.41 46. To illustrate the increase in the complexity of the proceedings, in case 001, 93 direct and indirect victims participated as civil parties and were represented by four civil party legal teams of both national and international lawyers. Case 002 involved some 4,000 civil parties. Domestic level: private prosecutions and victim statements 47. In countries with a civil law tradition, victims have long been granted an active role in criminal procedures. One interesting example in this respect is the institution of the private prosecution that exists, for example, in some countries in Latin America. Under this arrangement, victims or their relatives and, in some countries, domestic human rights organizations as well are allowed to bring criminal complaints and to participate in the investigation and prosecution of a crime. Private prosecution can be auxiliary (the private party adheres to the indictment of the State) or autonomous (the private party can press for different or additional charges than those brought by the public prosecutor). 42 The most important rights in human rights cases are the right to bring habeas corpus cases and the right to appeal in court the decision of the public prosecutor not to investigate or not to present an indictment. Private prosecution not only empowers victims and their families; it also provides for a check on prosecutorial discretion. In Chile and Argentina, for example, families and vocal human rights organizations brought cases to the authorities during the 39 40 41 42 12 Rudina Jasini, “Victim participation and transitional justice in Cambodia: the case of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)”, Impunity Watch Research Report, April 2016, p. 23. Article 36 of the Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea makes a cursory reference to civil party participation, granting victims a right of appeal to the Supreme Court Chamber. From the victims’ perspective, however, the remedial responses available are too restrictive, with reparations being limited to moral and collective reparations. Veronica Michels, “The role of prosecutorial independence and prosecutorial accountability in domestic human rights trials”, Journal of Human Rights, 2 December 2015.