ICC seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar Acting President, Min Aung Hlaing

Admin l Wednesday, November 27, 2024

THE HAGUE – Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC, Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrant on Myanmar ruling junta and Acting President, Min Aung Hlaing.

“Today, my Office is filing an application for a warrant of arrest before Pretrial chamber of the ICC”, Khan said.

He said that since 14 November 2019, “we have been investigating alleged crimes committed during the 2016 and 2017 waves of violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar, and the subsequent exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh”.

According to him, after an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, his Office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services, bears 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.

“This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my Office is filing”, he said, adding that more will follow.

“Today’s application draws upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources such as witness testimonies, including from a number of insider witnesses, documentary evidence and authenticated scientific, photographic and video materials.

“In collecting this evidence, the Office has benefitted from the crucial support of States, civil society partners and international organisations. In particular, the cooperation, the confidence and the steadfast commitment from the Rohingya community, the support of the Government of Bangladesh, and excellent cooperation from the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar have been essential to advancing this investigation”, he said.

He expressed his deep, profound gratitude to the Rohingya, adding that more than a million members of their community have been forced to flee violence in Myanmar.

“We are grateful to all those who provided testimony and support to my Office, those that have shared their stories, those that have given us information and material”.