ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Burmese junta chief over persecution of Rohingya Muslims

ATHENS (AA) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has announced his office seeks arrest warrant for the Burmese junta chief over the deportation and persecution of Rohingya Muslims.

“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 Defense Services, bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh,” said Karim Khan in a statement.

According to the prosecutor, these crimes were committed between August 25, 2017 and December 31, 2017 by the Burmese Armed Forces, supported by the national police, the border guard police, as well as non-Rohingya civilians.

Noting that it is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Burmese government official that the prosecutor’s office is filling, he added: “More to follow.”

Khan emphasized that the application draws upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources such as witness testimonies, documentary evidence and authenticated scientific, photographic and video materials.

“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. 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,” he said.​​​​​

The Rohingya Muslims of Burma have been referred to by the UN as ‘the most persecuted community in the world’ in 2018.