ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar military leader over Rohingya campaign

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Wednesday he would seek an arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity in the alleged persecution of the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim minority.

Myanmar's ruling junta said in a statement to Reuters that the country was not a member of the court and that it does not recognize its statements.

A million Rohingya fled, most to neighbouring Bangladesh, to escape a Myanmar military offensive launched in August 2017, a campaign that UN investigators have described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

Soldiers, police and Buddhist residents are alleged by UN investigators to have razed hundreds of villages in Myanmar's remote western Rakhine state, torturing residents as they fled, carrying out mass killings and gang rapes.

Myanmar has denied the allegations, saying security forces were carrying out legitimate operations against militants who attacked police posts.

Most refugees now live in squalor in camps in Bangladesh.

"[Min Aung Hlaing] is responsible for orchestrating the genocide against the innocent Rohingya people," said Mohammed Zubair, a Rohingya researcher living in a Bangladesh refugee camp. "Under his command, the military killed thousands of Rohingya and subjected countless women and girls to horrific acts of sexual violence."

Seeking a warrant for "the person who holds the highest military position in Myanmar sends a strong message to perpetrators that no one stands above the law," said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which assisted the ICC investigation.

Move follows arrest warrants for Israeli PM

A panel of three judges will now decide if they agree there are "reasonable grounds" to believe Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

There is no set time frame for their decision, but it generally takes around three months to rule on a warrant.

The ICC prosecutor's move comes as his office faces intense political backlash from Washington, among others, over its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant.

The prosecutor's office said it was seeking the warrant after extensive, independent and impartial investigations. More applications for arrest warrants relating to Myanmar will follow, it added.

Myanmar is not a member of the treaty-based ICC, but in 2018 and 2019 rulings, judges said the court had jurisdiction over alleged cross-border crimes that partially took place in neighbouring ICC member Bangladesh, and said prosecutors could open a formal investigation.

"This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my Office is filing. More will follow," the ICC prosecutor's statement said.

Application filed amid renewed atrocities against its civilians

The ICC has been investigating crimes against the Rohingya for nearly five years. Its investigation has not only been hampered by a lack of access to the country but also because Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, sparking a resistance movement that began as peaceful protests and later evolved into an armed rebellion on multiple fronts.

Investigators drew on witness testimonies, including from insiders, documentary evidence and authenticated scientific, photographic and video materials.

"The ICC prosecutor's decision to seek a warrant against Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing comes amid renewed atrocities against Rohingya civilians that echo those suffered seven years ago," said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

"The ICC's action is an important step toward breaking the cycle of abuses and impunity that has long been a key factor in fuelling the military's mass violations."

With 124 member nations, the ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression. With no police force to make arrests, it relies on states to do this. It faces a challenge to get Min Aung Hlaing into custody, as he does not travel.

The United States, Russia, China and India have not signed onto the ICC. It is backed by all of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Japan and dozens of African and Latin American countries.

The ICC has issued several arrest warrants for serving national leaders, including Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir. So far, only one sitting head of state, Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta, who was charged by the ICC before he was elected president in 2013, appeared in court to face charges.

The case was later dropped.