ICC To Seek Arrest Warrant Against Myanmar Military Leader Min Aung Hlaing (X image @uskamorgtr)
Naypyidaw, Myanmar: Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said he would seek an arrest warrant against Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing. The move is for crimes against humanity over the alleged persecution of the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim minority community in the country.
A panel of three judges will decide if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Timeframe for the decision is not set. However, it generally takes about three months to rule on issuing an arrest warrant.
“After an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, my office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing… bears criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity”, said Khan in a statement.
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces an application for a warrant of arrest for Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the #Myanmar Defence Services https://t.co/OyQHr9q29r pic.twitter.com/rJQJDUrXiT
— Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) November 27, 2024
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Myanmar’s ruling junta did not answer on request to comment from the military government immediately after the announcement.
In a statement released, the prosecutor’s office said that it was seeking the warrant after extensive, independent and impartial investigations. More applications for arrest warrants will follow, it added.
More than 7,30,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh during the campaign which UN investigators said was carried out with “genocidal intent”. Myanmar denied accusations of genocide and has always maintained that it does not target civilians. Naypyidaw said it carried out military operations against terrorists.
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Myanmar is not a member of the treaty-based ICC. However, in the 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”, said the ICC prosecutor’s statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
