The ICC prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for the head of Myanmar’s military regime

On By Pranco

THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor asked judges Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime for crimes committed against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who took power from elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup, is accused of crimes against humanity over the deportation and persecution of the Rohingya.

Nearly a million people were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh to escape what has been called a campaign of ethnic cleansing, involving mass rapes, killings and the burning of homes.

From a refugee camp in Bangladesh, the court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement that he plans to apply for more arrest warrants against Myanmar’s leaders soon.

“With this we, together with all our partners, will demonstrate that the Rohingya have not been forgotten. That they, like all people around the world, are entitled to the protection of the law,” the British lawyer said.