International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim AA Khan on Wednesday announced that he is filing an application for a warrant of arrest against Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing before Pre-Trial Chamber I.
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.
This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that his office is filing.
Since 14 November 2019, they 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.
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"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," Khan, who is visiting Bangladesh, said in a statement.
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, Khan said.
"I wish in particular to express my deep, profound gratitude to the Rohingya. More than a million members of their community have been forced to flee violence in Myanmar," he said, adding that they are grateful to all those who provided testimony and support to his office, those that have shared their stories, those that have given us information and material.
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In his visits to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar over the last three years, including just Tuesday, Khan met Rohingya women who spoke with clarity and purpose about the need for accountability.
"I sat with youth activists who wanted to play their own role in seeking justice. And I spoke with men of all ages including the old and the sick, who were united in demanding to be seen and to have accountability for what befell them," he said, adding that their work seeks to vindicate their resilience and their hope in the power of the law.
Khan said it is now for the judges of the International Criminal Court to determine whether this application meets the necessary standard for the issuance of an arrest warrant. "In the event that the independent judges of the ICC issue the requested warrant, we will coordinate closely with the Registrar of the Court in all efforts to arrest the named individual," Khan said.
When he first travelled to Bangladesh, he announced that they would seek to accelerate their investigations, and they committed to providing additional resources in that effort.
"Since then, we have reinvigorated our activities in line with that promise. Today marks a culmination of this renewed focus in relation to this situation," Khan said.
He said they will continue this focus in the coming weeks and months as we submit additional applications in this situation.
"In doing so, we will be demonstrating, together with all of our partners, that the Rohingya have not been forgotten. That they, like all people around the world, are entitled to the protection of the law," Khan said.