ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief

THE HAGUE

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) chief prosecutor on Wednesday asked judges for an arrest warrant for Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing for alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya Muslims.

"After an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, my office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing... bears criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity," Karim Khan said in a statement.

The ICC prosecutor in 2019 opened a probe into suspected crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017, that prompted the exodus of 750,000 of the Muslim minority in the southeast Asian country to neighboring Bangladesh.

About 1 million Rohingya now live in sprawling camps near the Bangladesh border city of Cox's Bazaar. Many of those who left accuse the Myanmar military of mass killings and rapes.

Seeking a warrant on charges of deportation and persecution, Khan said the alleged crimes were committed by Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, supported by the national and border police "as well as non-Rohingya citizens."

"This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official," Khan said.

"More will follow," warned the prosecutor who is based in The Hague.