Argentina court issues arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief

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A court in Argentina has issued an international arrest warrant for Myanmar’s self-appointed president and junta chief, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and other 22 military officials for crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority, activists told Radio Free Asia on Friday.

The court also issued warrants for the arrest of Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, who led a government when the military launched a campaign of repression against the Rohingya in 2017, and her colleague, former civilian president Htin Kyaw, the activists said.

Suu Kyi and Htin Kyaw have both been imprisoned since the military overthrew their elected government in a coup in February 2021.

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, or BROUK, filed a petition in Argentina in 2019 on behalf of Rohingya victims and it became the first country to open an investigation into serious crimes against the Rohingya under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a legal principle allowing for the prosecution of serious crimes no matter where they were committed.

“This is a historic step towards justice for Rohingya and everyone in Burma suffering under the Burmese military,” said Tun Khin, president of the BROUK, referring to Myanmar.

Myanmar government troops led a bloody crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 in response to Rohingya militant attacks on the security forces and some 700,000 members of the persecuted Rohingya community fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where most remain.

The U.N. experts later said the military carried out mass killings and gang rapes with “genocidal intent”. The United States in 2022 determined that the violence committed against the Rohingya amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Myanmar military has always insisted it was engaged in legitimate security operations. A spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on the arrest warrants.

Military leaders rarely travel abroad and then only to close allies like China, but Tun Khin said he was hopeful there would be action.

“As the warrant will be sent to all countries, Interpol will probably implement it. We wholeheartedly believe this,” Tun Khin. “This arrest warrant isn’t only to get justice for us Rohingya. I want to say it’s to get justice for all our citizens.”

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Warrant for Suu Kyi

Among the 22 other top military officials named in the warrants, is the deputy commander-in-chief, Soe Win. Others include officers operating in Rakhine state at the time.

It is not the only legal effort aimed at bringing to justice those responsible for crimes against the Rohingya.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing in November. However, it has yet to rule on whether to grant it.

A Rohingya community leader welcomed the ruling in Argentina.

“We’re glad. Our people were being killed illegally and the people who were committing genocide will never be free,” said Khin Maung, spokesperson for the Rohingya Youth Organization in Bangladesh.

In its initial 2019 petition, the BROUK included civilian government leaders Suu Kyi and Htin Kyaw. But after they and their government were ousted in 2021 the BROUK requested that the court consider if warrants for their arrests “serves the best interests of justice at this time.”

Tun Khin said the military leaders were the main target of his group’s petition.

“Within the arrest warrant in BROUK’s application, the established military personnel were the ones requested in the warrant,” he said.

Suu Kyi, trying to ensure the survival of her fragile government in the face of a looming threat from the military, went to the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 2019 to rejected accusations of genocide committed against the Rohingya as “incomplete and misleading”.

For years Suu Kyi had been feted in the West as a heroine of democracy but her statement at the U.N.‘s highest court, in which she described the military action in Rakhine state in 2017 as a “clearance operation”, did serious damage to her reputation.

It also failed to protect her elected government from a military coup just over a year later.

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.