UPDATED at 5:36 P.M. ET on 02-14-2025
Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.
A court in Argentina has ruled that international arrest warrants be issued for Myanmar’s self-appointed president and junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and 22 other military officials for crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority, the plaintiff and attorney in the case told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
The Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, or BROUK, filed a petition in Argentina in 2019 on behalf of Rohingya victims of a 2017 military crackdown that the group says amounted to genocide. Argentina 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.
In a statement, BROUK said a court in Buenos Aires ruled that arrest warrants be issued for Min Aung Hlaing and the other Burmese military officials. The court said that the officials’ identity should first be confirmed and they be called to testify.
“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.
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.
Hope for action
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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Speaking to RFA, Tomas Quintana, the attorney representing BROUK’s complaint, said that once the court in Buenos Aires confirms the identities of the suspects, it will send a communication to the global police organization Interpol, requesting that it issue red notices, which are alerts seeking the arrests of wanted persons with a view to extradition.
“And then, it will be for Interpol to enforce these arrest warrants,” said Quintana, who served as United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar between 2008 and 2014.
In the meantime, he said, the Rohingya community has welcomed the first decision by a court of law to issue warrants for the perpetrators of the crackdown.
“And even though we will have some challenges to enforce the arrest warrants, it’s a very important thing now to those who have been committing crimes not only in Burma, but also around the world,“ Quintana said.
“If you commit a crime against humanity, if you commit genocide, then you will have to be held to account, whether in your country or in any country in the world, because we are talking about a crime that affects the conscience of all humanity,” he added.
Warrant requested 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 total, the Argentinian court called for issuing warrants for 25 people, not all of whom are military officials, such as the leader of the former civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, and former president Htin Kyaw.
In its initial 2019 petition, the BROUK included 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 story has been updated to clarify that once the court confirms the identities of the suspects, it will request red notices from Interpol, which will be responsible for enforcing the arrests, as well as comments from Tomas Quintana.