The Hague, Nov. 27, (dpa/GNA) – The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader.
The commander-in-chief and de facto head of government, General Min Aung Hlaing, is responsible for crimes against humanity involving the persecution and deportation of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar in 2017, Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said in The Hague on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people from the Muslim Rohingya minority fled their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar seven years ago when the military launched an offensive against them.
Around a million Rohingya now live in the world’s largest concentration of refugee camps in the district of Cox’s Bazaar in south-eastern Bangladesh.
The minority has been the victim of mass rape and murder, and entire villages have been burned down. The United Nations describes their persecution as genocide.
A law passed in 1982 denied the Rohingya citizenship, even though the group had been living in Myanmar for generations. This made them the largest stateless group in the world, according to the UN.
The military in Myanmar staged a coup in February 2021, overthrowing head of government Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, the junta under Min Aung Hlaing has ruled with brutal force.
This is the first application for an arrest warrant against high-ranking state officials in Myanmar. The application has yet to be approved by ICC judges.
The prosecution says it has a wealth of evidence at its disposal, including witness statements, documents, photos and videos.
Human rights activists have welcomed the application.
GNA