On 4 July 2019, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested authorisation to initiate an investigation into crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction in which at least one element occurred on the territory of Bangladesh – a State Party to the Rome Statute (the treaty that established the ICC) – and within the context of the 2016 and 2017 waves of violence in Rakhine State on the territory of Myanmar, as well as any other crimes which are sufficiently linked to these events in the period since 9 October 2016 and continuing.
On 14 November 2019, the ICC Judges granted the request to start the investigation in the Situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar. In reaching this Decision, the Judges also took into account the victims’ representations introduced on behalf of more than half a million Rohingya, who all supported the opening of the investigation.
ICC pre-trial chamber decision 14.11.19
On 27 November 2024, Prosecutor Karim Khan’s Office filed an application for a warrant of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC.
After an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, Prosecutor Khan’s Office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that armed forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed between 25 August 2017 and 31 December 2017.
This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official. More will follow.