ATHENS, Nov 27 — The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has announced that his office seeks an arrest warrant for Myanmar's junta chief over deportation and persecution of Rohingya Muslims, Anadolu Agency reported.
“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,” said Karim Khan in a statement on Wednesday.
He said these crimes were committed between August 25, 2017, and December 31, 2017, by the Myanmar 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 Myanmar government official that the prosecutor’s office is filling, Karim added, “More to follow.”
He emphasised that the application draws upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources including 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,” Karim said.
— Bernama
