Prosecutor Karim Khan justifies the decision with the regime’s persecution and abuse of the Muslim Rohingya minority. He believes it probably falls within the definition of a crime against humanity.
– After a comprehensive, independent and impartial investigation, my office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the senior general and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity, Khan said in a statement.
He also states that he will request an arrest warrant for several high-ranking members of the military junta in the country.
– There will be more, he says.
Massacres and mass rapes
In 2019, the ICC opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017.
Around 750,000 Rohingya were forced to flee across the border into neighboring Bangladesh, and others have since followed.
Today, around 1 million Rohingya live in overcrowded camps near the border town of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh.
Many of the refugees have told of massacres and mass rapes committed by government soldiers, the border police and government-backed militia soldiers in Myanmar.
Led military coup
In February 2021, General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in Myanmar, which has since been ruled by a military junta.
The coup resulted in mass demonstrations, which the military cracked down on with a heavy hand. The junta has since arrested over 20,000 people in an attempt to silence all opposition.
The opposition, for its part, has formed militias, which in collaboration with former rebel groups have taken control of large parts of the country.
According to the UN, over 3.4 million people have been forced to flee Myanmar as a result of civil war and climate change.
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Facts about the Rohingya
- Muslim ethnic group that for several generations has lived in the far west of Buddhist-dominated Myanmar, close to the border with Bangladesh.
- According to the UN, the Rohingya are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. They are denied citizenship in Myanmar, are often subjected to forced labour, do not have the right to own land and have limited rights in many other areas.
- In autumn 2017, an estimated 742,000 Rohingya were displaced from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a result of a bloody military operation.
- In recent years, around one million stateless Rohingya refugees have lived in overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. 56 percent of them are children, according to the UN.
- Before the expulsion, the UN estimated that there were around 800,000 Rohingya living in Myanmar.
- UN investigators have concluded that Myanmar’s top generals should be prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity.
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