Nina H. B. Jørgensen's excellent book could not be more timely. A high-quality academic text based on the author's first-hand experience at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the book fills an important gap in the international criminal procedure scholarship, and is the third title in the Elgar Companions to International Courts and Tribunals series.

In twelve chapters, the author provides an in-depth introduction to the organisation and operation of the ECCC, and evaluates the impact of the ECCC law and procedure. The introductory chapter offers a historical overview of the conflict in Cambodia, which led to the establishment of the ECCC. Chapter 2 explores the jurisdictional foundations of the Chambers as well as the general principles of international criminal law in the context of the ECCC. Chapter 3 expounds the ECCC structure, including procedures for the appointment of Judges and Prosecutors, and the roles of the Defence Support Section (DSS) and Victims Support Section (VSS). Chapter 4 explains the ECCC procedure and the progress of cases from the Office of the Co-Prosecutors to the Supreme Court Chamber. An overview of cases pending before the ECCC at the time of writing is provided in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 deals with “certain categories of proceedings that have been of great consequence for the Court, testing its functionality and legitimacy” (p. 161). Chapters 7 and 10 are devoted, respectively, to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ECCC, liability, sentencing, and the role of victims before the ECCC. Finally, Chapter 11 develops the idea of legitimacy referred to in Chapter 6, and Chapter 12 discusses the legacy of the Court.

A definite value of the book consists in its objectivity. The author acknowledges that the ECCC “is unlikely to be able to dispense ‘perfect justice’” (p. 359), and that “[a] more complete transitional justice process for Cambodia might have included a form of truth commission” (ibid.). In that sense, the ECCC probably was an imperfect solution, and even “a model not to be followed” (ibid.). Yet, it is also correct “that without any accountability mechanism, the senior Democratic Kampuchea (DK) leaders would have seen out their twilight years in peaceful retirement” (p. 386), and that “[t]here would have been no proper opportunity to address the crimes of the past, and the majority of survivors may well have taken the secrets of their suffering to the grave, leaving Cambodia´s youth unknowing and unencumbered” (ibid.). No less significantly, the ECCC made it possible to record the DK history for the rest of the world, in order to prevent such atrocities from happening elsewhere. Without Jørgensen's book, this history would have been reserved to a fairly narrow circle of specialists in history and international criminal law. Now that the book is on the market, it will be a valuable read for scholars of international and criminal law and procedure, policy-makers, journalists, human rights activists, and the general public alike.