ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar military government chief

The ICC prosecutor promises that more applications will be forthcoming as the Rohingya seek justice and accountability.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested an international arrest warrant for the military ruler of Myanmar for the persecution of Rohingya.

The office of prosecutor Karim Khan said on Wednesday that Min Aung Hlaing, chief of the military government that took control of the country in a coup in 2021, is responsible for crimes against humanity regarding the treatment of the Rohingya minority.

The prosecutor’s office has been investigating alleged crimes committed during 2016-17 violence in the country’s state of Rakhine for the past five years, it said.

At that time, the Myanmar military unleashed a brutal crackdown on Rohingya civilians, sending at least 700,000 fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh amid reports of killings, torture, rape and arson.

Military chief Min Aung Hlaing “bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh”, the prosecutor’s office said.

“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’s statement said.

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC addresses the Rohingya community on the application for a warrant of arrest in the situation in #Bangladesh/#Myanmar ⤵️https://t.co/OyQHr9q29r pic.twitter.com/vYSJdSNQKe

— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) November 27, 2024

The work of the ICC seeks to vindicate the resilience of the mainly Muslim minority community of