Official: ICC Will Prosecute People Who Committed Crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar

RADIO FREE ASIA
2020.02.04

Phakiso Mochochoko, with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), talks to reporters in Dhaka, Feb. 4, 2020.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is gathering evidence against people suspected of crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, a senior prosecutor told reporters in Dhaka on Tuesday, after a sister court ruled last month in a genocide case brought against Naypyidaw.

ICC to now investigate Myanmar for crimes against Rohingyas

The Daily Star
February 04, 2020
Star Online Report

Photo: Amran Hossain/Star/File

The International Criminal Court has officially launched an investigation into Myanmar.

The intergovernmental organisation and international tribunal that sits in The Hague today said they will be investigating the crime of deportation which also includes crimes against humanity.

Phakiso Mochochoko, director of the Department of Jurisdiction, Cooperation and Complementarity, made the announcement at a press conference at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka this afternoon.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi to be investigated for crimes against Rohingya Muslims

Geraldine Doogue   
ABC Radio National
Nov  20, 2019

 Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has been named in a case filed in Argentina for crimes against the country's Rohingya Muslims. (AP: Gemunu Amarasinghe)

The International Criminal Court has approved an investigation into alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims by the government of Myanmar.

The development comes amid a slew of legal efforts to hold the government to account, including a lawsuit filed in Argentina – the first to name former democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than 730,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since a 2017 crackdown by the country's military.

Guest: Tun Khin, Rohingya genocide survivor; President, Burmese Rohingya Organisation (UK)

Producer: Linda Lopresti 

ICC authorizes investigation into Myanmar crimes against humanity

ExpertLegal
18 November 2019

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday authorized an investigation into allegations that Myanmar has committed crimes against humanity in its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Myanmar is outside of the ICC’s jurisdiction, which is limited to those states that are a party to the Rome Statute treaty. However, its neighbor Bangladesh is a party to the Rome Statute. At least one charge is believed to have occurred in Bangladesh, and therefore, the ICC is extending its jurisdiction to investigate other related allegations in Myanmar itself. Specifically, the ICC will investigate crimes that have occurred “within the context of two waves of violence in Rakhine State on the territory of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as well as any other crimes which are sufficiently linked to these events.”

The authorization of this investigation arises from a request made in July by ICC Prosecutor Faou Bensouda to formally open the investigation. Following her request, the ICC conducted an initial survey as to the potential validity and necessity of such an investigation.

Myanmar Rejects Court Probe Into Crimes Against Rohingyas

The New York Times
By The Associated Press
Nov. 16, 2019

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's government rejected the International Criminal Court's decision to allow prosecutors to open an investigation into crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said at a Friday night press conference that Myanmar stood by its position that the Netherlands-based court has no jurisdiction over its actions. His statement was the first official reaction since the court on Thursday agreed to proceed with the case.

Lawsuit: Aung San Suu Kyi 'committed crimes' against Rohingya

Aljazeera

Joshua Carroll
15th November 2019

Human rights icon Suu Kyi accused of 'tending towards the annihilation of the Rohingya', criminal complaint alleges.

Rohingya men kneel as members of Myanmar's security forces stand guard in Inn Din village in September 2017 [Reuters] 

Yangon, Myanmar - Before becoming Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest for defying the country's feared generals. Now, the Nobel peace laureate faces an attempt to have her imprisoned for supporting them.

A lawsuit filed in Argentina on Wednesday alleges the former human rights icon contributed to a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya minority that included military-led mass killings in August 2017.

Myanmar: Crimes Against Rohingya Go Unpunished

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 



August 22, 2019

                         Address Causes of Crisis, Cooperate With UN

Rohingya refugees gather behind a barbed-wire fence in the “no-man’s land” border zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh, April 25, 2018.
© 2018 Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images

(Bangkok) – The Myanmar government should stop obstructing international efforts to investigate widespread crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims, Human Rights Watch said today. Donors and concerned governments should press Myanmar to protect their basic rights, facilitate international justice for victims, and ensure that any returns of Rohingya refugees are voluntary, safe, and dignified.

Engel Presses for Accountability for Burmese Military Crimes Against the Rohingya

U .S.HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMETTE on FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRESS RELEASE 
July 29, 2019

Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and a bipartisan group of members today urged Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to take strong action to hold the Burmese military accountable for crimes against the Rohingya people. In a letter, the members cast the Department’s recently announced visa bans on four Burmese officials as inadequate, pressed for more meaningful and effective sanctions, and called on the Administration to designate the crimes against the Rohingya as genocide.

ICC's decision to authorize probe into crimes against Rohingyas to take months

Dhaka Tribune

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan and Mizanur Rahman
July 18th, 2019

ICC Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart speaks to the reporters in Dhaka on Thursday, July 18, 2019 Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

Dhaka, ICC, discussing confidential MoU defining court’s work in Bangladesh
It is going to take at least three months for a chamber judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to decide on authorizing an investigation into the alleged atrocities against Rohingyas, ICC Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart said on Thursday.

If authorized, he pledged to "work independently, impartially, and objectively" in accordance with the Rome Statute, keeping away from any political influence.

ICC Prosecutor Seeking to Investigate Crimes Against Rohingya

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 



Param-Preet Singh
Associate Director, International Justice Program

UN Security Council Should Ensure Justice for All Victims of Myanmar Violence

Smoke is seen rising from Burma’s Taung Pyo Let War village from across the border in Bangladesh.

On June 26, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will request that the court’s judges open an investigation into crimes relating to two waves of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Myanmar is not an ICC member. But last year, the court confirmed its jurisdiction over crimes where an element occurred in Bangladesh, an ICC member since June 2010.