ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrant For Myanmar Military Leader Min Aung Hlaing

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that the International Criminal Court seeks to vindicate the resilience and hope of the minority community of Rohingya in the power of the law.

File photo of Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing.

Source : Wikimedia Commons

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested an international arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing for the persecution of Rohingya.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing bore criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh.

"My Office alleges that these crimes were committed between 25 August 2017 and 31 December 2017 by the armed forces of Myanmar, the Tatmadaw, supported by the national police, the border guard police, as well as non-Rohingya civilians," a statement of the ICC Prosecutor said.

He further said that the International Criminal Court seeks to vindicate the resilience and hope of the minority community of Rohingya in the power of the law.

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC addresses the Rohingya community on the application for a warrant of arrest in the situation in #Bangladesh/#Myanmar ⤵️https://t.co/OyQHr9q29r pic.twitter.com/vYSJdSNQKe

— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) November 27, 2024

However, Myanmar’s military government rejected the proceedings saying it was not party to the ICC and insisting the country’s leadership practiced a policy of "peaceful coexistence." Myanmar is not a signatory to the ICC, so initially bringing a case against the military there seemed impossible.

But the ICC prosecutors argued that as some of the alleged crimes, mainly deportation, were grounds for an indictment. The chief prosecutor said he had a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources to request an international arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing.

Lakhs of Rohingyas had to flee Myanmar in 2017 to escape the persecution launched by the Burmese military. The military during that time had unleashed a brutal crackdown on Rohingya civilians, sending at least 7 lakh refugees into neighbouring Bangladesh amid reports of killings, torture, rape and arson.

At least 6,700 Rohingya, including over 730 children, were killed in the month after the violence broke out, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). However, Myanmar's government denied the mass killing, calling it a campaign against Rohingya militants.

Responding to the development, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International, said: “Today’s announcement by the ICC prosecutor is a decisive step and an important signal – both for Myanmar and the rest of the world – that those who are allegedly responsible for crimes under international law will be sought to face arrest and trial, no matter how powerful they are or how long they have escaped scrutiny."

“The cycle of impunity in Myanmar has to be broken now. No senior leader has ever been held accountable for the atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya who lost their lives, homes and entire communities and continue to face multiple crimes. In the absence of accountability, more violations will occur. Min Aung Hlaing has been at the centre of multiple human right catastrophes in Myanmar. He oversaw violent operations against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017, and he led the 2021 coup, which has led to the killing of nearly 6,000 civilians and plunged Myanmar into economic, political and social chaos," the Amnesty International statement said.