The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today said he would seek an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity in the alleged persecution of the Rohingyas.
Myanmar’s ruling junta said in a statement to Reuters that the country was not a member of the court and that it does not recognise its statements.
A million Rohingya fled, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh, to escape a Myanmar military offensive launched in August 2017, a campaign that UN investigators have described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
Soldiers, police, and Buddhist residents are alleged by UN investigators to have razed hundreds of villages in Myanmar’s remote western Rakhine state, torturing residents as they fled, carrying out mass-killings and gang-rapes.
Myanmar has denied the allegations, saying security forces were carrying out legitimate operations against militants who attacked police posts.
Most refugees now live in camps in Bangladesh.
“He [Min Aung Hlaing] is responsible for orchestrating the genocide against the innocent Rohingya people,” said Mohammed Zubair, a Rohingya researcher living in a Bangladesh refugee camp. “Under his command, the military killed thousands of Rohingya and subjected countless women and girls to horrific acts of sexual violence.”
Seeking a warrant for “the person who holds the highest military position in Myanmar sends a strong message to perpetrators that no one stands above the law,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which assisted the ICC investigation.
A panel of three judges will now decide if they agree there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
There is no set time frame for their decision but it generally takes around three months to rule on a warrant.
The prosecutor’s office said it was seeking the warrant after extensive, independent and impartial investigations. More applications for arrest warrants relating to Myanmar will follow, it added.
Myanmar is not a member of the treaty-based ICC, but in 2018 and 2019 rulings judges said the court had jurisdiction over alleged cross-border crimes that partially took place in neighbouring ICC member Bangladesh, and said prosecutors could open a formal investigation.
“This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my Office is filing. More will follow,” the ICC prosecutor’s statement said.
“The ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek a warrant against Sr Gen Min Aung Hlaing comes amid renewed atrocities against Rohingya civilians that echo those suffered seven years ago,” Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch said.
“The ICC’s action is an important step toward breaking the cycle of abuses and impunity that has long been a key factor in fuelling the military’s mass violations.”
With 124 member nations, the ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression. With no police force to make arrests, it relies on states to do this. It faces a challenge to get Min Aung Hlaing into custody, as he does not travel.
It has issued several arrest warrants for serving national leaders including Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. So far, only one sitting head of state, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, who was charged by the ICC before he was elected president in 2013, appeared in court to face charges. The case was later dropped.
