ICC Prosecutor seeks warrant against Myanmar Army Chief

Karim A.A. Khan KC, ICC Prosecutor, Wednesday (November 27, 2024) said he is filing an application in the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrant against Myanmar Army Chief and Acting President, Min Aung Hlaing, over his brutal suppression and persecution of Rohingya Muslims

The Hague: Karim A.A. Khan KC, ICC Prosecutor, Wednesday (November 27, 2024) said he is filing an application in the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrant against Myanmar Army Chief and Acting President, Min Aung Hlaing, over his brutal suppression and persecution of Rohingya Muslims.

"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", Karim said in a statement.

"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, 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", he added.

The ICC Prosecutor alleged 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.

He further said that more applications on warrants against other Myanmar officials to follow soon.

"This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my Office is filing. More will follow", Karim said.

The application against the Myanmar Army Chief comes weeks after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The ICC issued warrant against Netanyahu following the application filed by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan about six months ago.

Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.