Genocide complaint filed against Myanmar’s new president
The 2021 coup by Min Aung Hlaing, resulting in a civil war and humanitarian crisis, leaves large numbers of Rohingya Muslims displaced
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[JAKARTA] A criminal case against Myanmar’s newly elected president, Min Aung Hlaing, was filed in Indonesia on Monday (Apr 6) by a group of civil-society organisations, which are accusing the leader of acts of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic group.
Myanmar is an Asean member, but relations have come under strain since he led a 2021 coup.
It resulted in a civil war and humanitarian crisis, with large numbers of Rohingya Muslims displaced and forced into refugee settlements.
Indonesia, which hosts Asean’s headquarters, is the biggest Muslim-majority country in the world, and is among the destinations for Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar or the refugee camps by boat.
Myanmar’s armed forces, under then-junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, launched an offensive in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 Rohingya from their homes and into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they recounted accounts of killings, mass rape and arson.
The complaint to Indonesia’s Attorney-General’s Office was filed by Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya who fled Myanmar, and several Indonesian figures, they said on Monday.
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The figures include a former attorney-general and the chairman of Muhammadiyah, one of the country’s biggest Muslim groups.
They said they would present evidence of the forced displacement of the Rohingya, the world’s largest stateless population, as well as killings by the junta, adding that the case had been accepted by the Indonesian prosecutors.
“It is the first time under Indonesia’s new penal code that a case has been officially received, and I warmly welcome this historic development as a milestone for all Rohingya people on their long march to justice and accountability,” Ullah said.
The claimants said Indonesia’s penal code allows for “universal jurisdiction” – under which certain crimes are considered so serious that they can be processed, regardless of the victims’ nationalities or the location of the crime.
Indonesia’s Attorney-General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another predominantly Muslim country, Gambia, told judges in January at the United Nations’ top court that Myanmar targeted minority Rohingya Muslims for destruction and made their lives a nightmare, in a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide.
Myanmar has always denied genocide. The junta did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on Monday.
Min Aung Hlaing was elected the president through a parliamentary vote last Friday, formalising his grip on political power, after an army-backed party won the December and January elections, which Western governments described as a sham.
The 2021 coup has led to widespread protests and nationwide resistance ever since. REUTERS
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