Criminal Complaint Filed in Germany Accuses Myanmar Military of Genocide, War Crimes

New Delhi Times

NDT Bureau
January 25, 2023

Campaign group Fortify Rights and 16 Myanmar nationals have filed a genocide and war crimes complaint against Myanmar’s military leaders in Germany in the latest bid to leverage the principle of universal jurisdiction against the country’s generals.

Fortify Rights announced the case Tuesday in Thailand, which shares a long and porous border with Myanmar, and says a 215-page complaint was filed with Germany’s federal public prosecutor on January 20. The prosecutor’s office must now decide whether to open an investigation.

The prosecutor’s office confirmed receipt of the complaint in an email to VOA but declined further comment.

Universal jurisdiction holds that some crimes, including genocide, are so heinous they transcend national borders and that they and their perpetrators can be tried anywhere.

2023 HRW REPORT ( MYANMAR )

HRW

2023 REPORT

• Torture, Political Executions, Deaths in Custody
• War Crimes and Other Atrocities
• Displaced Populations and Aid
• Persecution of Rohingya
• Shrinking Civic Space and Legal Challenges
• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Key International Actors

Since staging a coup on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military has carried out a brutal nationwide crackdown on millions of people opposed to its rule. The junta security forces have carried out mass killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, and other abuses that amount to crimes against humanity. Freedom of speech and assembly face severe restrictions.

UN says Myanmar military uses death penalty to ‘crush’ opposition

Aljazeera
3 Dec 2022

UN rights chief Volker Turk said that more than 130 opponents of Myanmar’s military regime have been sentenced to death.

Myanmar soldiers stand on military vehicles during a parade to commemorate the 77th Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, in March 2022 [File Nyein Chan Naing/EPA]

Myanmar’s military government is using capital punishment as a tool to crush opposition to its rule and has sentenced more than 130 opponents of the regime to death since February 2021, a senior United Nations official said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Friday that at least seven university students were sentenced to death behind closed doors on Wednesday, and there are reports that as many as four more youth activists were also sentenced on Thursday. 

Myanmar military authority informed Beijing they are willing to take back Rohingyas after verification- Bangladesh Foreign Minister

News On AIR
ByAIR News
October 21, 2022

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen has said that Myanmar military authorities informed Beijing that they are willing to take back the displaced Rohingyas after verification, reports the official news agency BSS. Briefing the media about the outcome of the meeting with the Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming in Dhaka on Thursday, Dr. Momen said that Myanmar’s military government has conveyed that they would honour all the previous deals signed between Dhaka and Naypyidaw to commence Rohingya repatriation. However, Myanmar did not mention any specific date for the process to start. He said that China has assured Bangladesh that it will continue its efforts to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

Reports: US to declare Myanmar’s 2017 atrocities against Rohingya a ‘genocide’

RFA

By Shailaja Neelakantan for BenarNews
2022.03.20

The move will bring greater scrutiny on the Myanmar military, says a Rohingya activist.

Ten Rohingya men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village of Rakhine State, Myanmar, Sept. 2, 2017.

The United States is set on Monday to declare as a genocide the Myanmar military’s 2017 deadly crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority that killed thousands and forced an exodus to neighboring Bangladesh, news agencies reported.

Human rights activists and a U.S. lawmaker Sunday welcomed the move as overdue and essential for stepping up pressure on the military, and making it accountable for crimes against humanity. According to U.S. investigators, the military was responsible for atrocities including mass killings, gang rapes, mutilations, crucifixions, and the burning and drowning of children.

Biden administration formally determines Myanmar's military committed genocide

CNN

By Jennifer Hansler,
Sun March 20, 2022

Rohingya refugees gather near a fence during a government organized media tour, to a no-man's land between Myanmar and Bangladesh, near Taungpyolatyar village, Maung Daw, northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, June 29, 2018.

(CNN)The Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar's military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, a US official told CNN on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will publicly announce the determination, which human rights groups have been advocating for years, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the administration's recognition of genocide.

Fighting Myanmar's regime with compassion and military skills

NIKKEI ASIA
DENIS D. GRAY, Contributing writer
August 1, 2021 

Free Burma Rangers help thousands fleeing brutal attacks by security forces

David Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers aid organization, rescues a 5-year-old Demoa after her mother was killed by Islamists in the battle for Mosul. (Courtesy of Free Burma Rangers)

     CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- David Eubank, a former U.S. Special Forces officer, believes that some causes are worth dying for. His Free Burma Rangers aid organization, founded to help victims of an earlier Myanmar crisis, has since brought frontline help to many thousands in war-scarred Syria, Iraq and Sudan. Now, it is back in Myanmar helping ethnic minorities to flee escalating attacks by the regime's security forces.

Fighting Ensues Between Military And KNPP in Loikaw Township

Kantarawaddy Times

Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Karenni Army (KA), the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), came under fire this Monday during its third clash with the Burma Army this month.

According to a Karenni soldier, KA Battalion 3, under Tactical Command 1, fought with Burma Army LIB-530, LID-66 and People’s Militia Force (PMF) all day in Loilen Lay, a sub-township of Loikaw Township.

The soldier said the conflict started at 8 am with LIB-530 and PMF between Ner Kwe and Teelon villages. KA exchanged gunfire with LID-66 near Kon Ner and Wam Khine villages at 1:40 pm. By the late afternoon until about 6 pm, Karenni soldiers were battling Burma Army near Dawta Hey village.

Britain Tightens Sanctions Net on Myanmar Military

U.S News

By Reuters
June 21, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain added three Myanmar entities to its sanctions list on Monday: state-owned pearl and timber firms, and the 'State Administration Council' which runs the functions of the state, a notice posted on the British government website said.

Britain said there were reasonable grounds to believe the two state-owned enterprises provided funds to the military junta, and said the State Administration Council was responsible for, or had supported, the undermining of democracy in Myanmar.

Video: 'Please, Please, Please, Please Release Him,' Metro Detroit Mom Pleads To Myanmar Military

DaedlineDetriot
May 30, 2021,

Metro Detroit mom Rose Fenster pleaded on CNN Sunday morning for the release of her son Danny Fenster, a journalist in Myanmar snatched at an airport nearly a week ago by the military regime and reportedly jailed.

"We just want him home. Please, please, please, please release him and send him home to his family," pleaded Fenster, who appeared with her husband Buddy on CNN's "The Reliable Sources" with Brian Stelter.

Buddy and Rose Fenster's latest media appeal

Danny Fenster, out of contact since May 24

10 Japan firms may have links with Myanmar's military junta

KYODO NEWS 
May 9, 2021

TOKYO- At least 10 Japanese companies have had direct business ties with firms affiliated with Myanmar's military or have taken part in projects that could be sources of income for the junta, a Kyodo News investigative team found recently.

The results of the probe were released Saturday amid concerns that funding and business deals by Japanese state-run and private entities may be aiding human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government, while calls are growing in the United States and European countries, as well as from shareholders, to sever ties with the junta.

Photo taken in February 2021 shows beer shelves at a supermarket store in Yangon, where products from military-affiliated companies have been removed. (Kyodo)

Such entities include the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, construction firm Fujita Corp. and property manager Tokyo Tatemono Co.

‘No time to lose’, stop flow of deadly weapons to Myanmar military now, urges UN rights expert

UN News
Peace and Security
7 May 2021

Unsplash/Zinko Hein People holding a vigil in Yangon, Myanmar (file photo).

The United Nations independent human rights expert on Myanmar on Friday called on countries that have not yet done so, to impose arms embargo on the country urgently, to stop the “massacre” of citizens across the country.

Glaring glimpse into Myanmar military’s self-delusion

ASIA TIMES

By DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON
APRIL 29, 2021

Junta report presented to ASEAN on Myanmar's political situation revealed a tortured relationship with the bloody truth

Myanmar's commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his wife Kyu Kyu Hla leaves after visiting a Muslim Free Hospital and Medical Relief Society in Yangon, September 17, 2019. Photo: Sai Aung Main/AFP

Myanmar’s junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing arrived at the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta with justifications for his February 1 coup compiled in a neat document entitled “The Current Political Situation in Myanmar.”

Written in a first-person account redolent of a court case defense summation, the 118-page paper outlines the alleged fraud and corruption at last November’s elections that motivated the coup and subsequent responses by the military, or Tatmadaw.

Chance for Asean to stop Myanmar military rulers

NEWSTRAITSTIMES

April 24, 2021

This handout photo taken and released by Dawei Watch on April 23, shows protesters holding signs calling for the arrest of Myanmar armed forces chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during a demonstration against the military coup in Dawei. -AFP pic/Dawei Watch

LETTER: Southeast Asian leaders must unite to push the Myanmar junta to end horrific abuses against ordinary people and ensure it does not recognise the military as the country's legitimate rulers.

Asean is holding a Special Summit on Myanmar in Jakarta, today, to discuss the crisis brought about by the Tatmadaw's (military) coup in February. Junta leader and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who stands credibly accused of being one of the chief architects of the genocide against the Rohingya, is expected to attend the meeting.

ASEAN summit must call on Myanmar's military to end the violence and restore elected government

CIVICUS
22 April 2021

Re: ASEAN summit must address grave violations in Myanmar by security forces

To: H.E. Lim Jock Hoi
Secretary-General of ASEAN
70A Jalan Sisingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110, Indonesia CC: ASEAN Foreign Ministers
Members of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)
ASEAN Missions to the United Nations Office in Geneva
Le Thi Nam Huong, ASEAN Assistant Director Human Rights Division

Myanmar military junta arrests prominent trade union leader

the GUARDIAN

Sarah Johnson
Mon 19 Apr 2021

Daw Myo Aye, labour organiser and a leader of civil disobedience protests, dragged from office by army.

Soldiers in Yangon patrolling the streets by night. Thousands of people have been arrested and hundreds killed since the military junta seized power. Photograph: AFP/Getty

One of Myanmar’s leading trade union leaders has been arrested as part of escalating attacks on pro-democracy figures by the military junta.

Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), one of Myanmar’s largest independent unions, is a central figure in the movement for workers’ rights.

Outcry in Myanmar as military airs images of ‘tortured’ detainees

Aljazeera

19 Apr 2021

Fresh appeals for action after military TV broadcasts images of six young detainees whose faces appear bloodied and bruised.

This handout photo taken and released by Dawei Watch on April 15, 2021 shows protesters taking part in a demonstration against the military coup in Dawei's Launglone township [Handout/ Dawei Watch via AFP]

A monitoring group in Myanmar has appealed for international action, expressing concern over the torture and murder of anti-coup protesters in the Southeast Asian nation after the military broadcast images of six young detainees bearing severe signs of abuse.

How to Defeat Myanmar’s Military

The New York Times

By Zin Mar Aung

April 16, 2021

Ms. Zin Mar Aung, a former political prisoner, is an elected member of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Parliament) of Myanmar and the acting foreign minister of the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. 

Elected legislators deposed in the February coup have a plan for building a new federal democratic union. We need help.

Protesters prayed in Yangon, Myanmar, in March for demonstrators who died during demonstrations against the military coup.Credit...Theint Mon Soe/SOPA Images and LightRocket, via Getty Images

The people of Myanmar have been fighting for the life of our nation since the military, or Tatmadaw, seized power on Feb. 1. We have been protesting peacefully, risking our lives to protect neighborhoods, cities and towns — fighting not for any---one political party, ethnic group or leader, but for freedom and a genuine federal democracy.

This is why those of us who were duly elected to office by the people of Myanmar, and who continue to act for their interests, are now asking for direct help.

SKorean steelmaker to end partnership with Myanmar military

Coast Reporter

The Canadian Press

April 16' 2021

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — A South Korean steelmaker on Friday said it plans to end a joint venture with a military-controlled firm in Myanmar following criticism that its business has benefited military leaders who have violently suppressed pro-dem

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — A South Korean steelmaker on Friday said it plans to end a joint venture with a military-controlled firm in Myanmar following criticism that its business has benefited military leaders who have violently suppressed pro-democracy protests there.

POSCO Coated & Color Steel said it has decided to discontinue its partnership with Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited, which is about 40% owned by Myanmar’s Defence Ministry. However, the South Korean company said it would not pull out of Myanmar.

Adani Ports to be removed from S&P index due to business links with Myanmar military

REUTERS

ESG
Reuters Staff
APRIL 13, 2021

  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - S&P Dow Jones Indices said it is removing India’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd from its sustainability index due to the firm’s business ties with Myanmar’s military which is accused of human rights abuses after a coup this year.

The company, which is building a $290 million port in Yangon on land leased from the military-backed Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), did not immediately respond to a Reuters emailed request for comment.

Adani Group said late last month it would consult authorities and stakeholders on the project after human rights groups reported that its ports unit had an agreement to pay millions of dollars in rent to MEC.