ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar military leader over Rohingya campaign

(Reuters) THE HAGUE, Nov 27 – The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Wednesday he would seek an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity in the alleged persecution of the Rohingya, a mainly Muslim minority.

A spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling junta did not answer calls from Reuters immediately after the announcement. Reuters has requested comment from the military government by email.

A million Rohingya fled, most to neighboring Bangladesh, to escape a Myanmar military offensive launched in August 2017, a campaign that U.N. investigators have described as a text book example of ethnic cleansing.

Soldiers, police, and Buddhist villagers are alleged by U.N. investigators to have razed hundreds of villages in the remote western Rakhine state, torturing residents as they fled, carrying out mass-killings and gang-rapes.

Myanmar has denied the allegations, saying security forces were carrying out legitimate operations against militants who attacked police posts.

More than one million refugees now live in squalor in camps in Bangladesh.

The prosecutor’s step marked a rare day of celebration for the Rohingya, said Tun Khin, president of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. “We have finally taken another step towards justice and accountability,” he said.