The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said he has requested an arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims.
Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Min Aung Hlaing bore criminal responsibility for the persecution and deportation of the Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2017 to escape a campaign the UN called genocide launched by the Myanmar military.
But the Myanmar government denied this, saying it was simply waging a campaign against Rohingya militants.
Attacks on the Rohingya began in 2017, after Rohingya militants launched deadly attacks on more than 30 police stations in Myanmar.
They said troops responded by burning their villages and attacking and killing civilians.
At least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the month after the violence broke out, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Amnesty International says the Myanmar military has also raped and abused Rohingya women and girls.
The shocking violence against the Rohingya has sparked international outcry and demands for accountability – which has proven difficult, with former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi refusing to prosecute her generals.
Myanmar is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court, so it initially seemed impossible to bring charges against the military there.
However, ICC prosecutors later argued that as some of the alleged crimes, mainly expulsions, also took place in Bangladesh – which is a signatory – there were grounds for an indictment.
Today, after five years of investigation, the Attorney General says he has enough evidence to request an international arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing.
A panel of three ICC judges must now rule on the prosecutor's request.
A genocide case against the army is also pending before the International Court of Justice.
Human rights organizations welcomed the news of Min Aung Hlaing's arrest warrant, with one calling it a “day of celebration.”
“The ICC prosecutor's request for this arrest warrant is a strong warning to Myanmar's abusive military rulers that they are not beyond the reach of the law,” Maria said. Elena Vignoli, senior adviser on international justice at Human Rights Watch.
“This is a rare day of celebration for the Rohingya,” Tun Khin, chairman of the Myanmar Rohingya Organization in the UK, told Reuters news agency. “Today, we finally took another step toward justice and accountability.”
Myanmar is currently in the grip of a civil war, with Min Aung Hlaing's army suffering significant losses.
Min Aung Hlaing first came to power in 2021, after leading a coup against the elected government of Aung Sang Suu Kyi.
He has become an international pariah since launching his disastrous coup and rarely travels – and is unlikely to ever end up in court in The Hague.
But for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya stuck in miserable camps in Bangladesh, this case could at least show that they have not been forgotten.
