‘total impunity’
The International Court of Justice is hearing allegations that Myanmar committed genocide in a case brought by The Gambia after hundreds of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape a Myanmar military crackdown launched in August 2017.
Last year, another civil society group, the Myanmar Accountability Project, said Turkish authorities had launched a preliminary investigation after filing cases against members of the Myanmar junta over alleged atrocities since the coup.
In the case of the Rohingya, Myanmar officials have previously said that security forces were conducting a legitimate operation against terrorists who attacked police posts.
The junta has also denied that the military has committed atrocities since the coup, disputed casualty figures given by activists, and labeled opponents “terrorists”.
Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the US-based Global Justice Center, welcomed the filing of the complaint in Germany, saying that, along with other accountability processes, it “could help overcome the total impunity suffered by the military for a long time”.
The military ruled the former British colony with an iron fist for years before a decade-long temporary reform from 2011, during which Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi led a civilian government.
Suu Chi has been in custody since the government was toppled in 2021.
Fortify Rights is an independent non-profit organization based in Southeast Asia and established in 2013, funded by donations from Europe, Asia and the United States, including private foundations.
