Myanmar to court-martial more troops over Rohingya crackdown, army says
YANGON: Myanmar’s army said in a statement on Friday it would hold more court-martials over alleged abuses against Rohingya Muslims, after a government-appointed commission said soldiers committed war crimes against the minority.
The panel concluded, in a report published in January, that members of the security forces, among “multiple actors”, were responsible for war crimes and serious human rights violations during a military-led crackdown against the group in 2017.
The army said in a post on its website on Friday it had studied the panel’s report in great detail and was reviewing allegations.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape an army offensive launched in August 2017 that U.N investigators described as having been executed with genocidal intent.
The country is facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, after Gambia, a mainly Muslim West African state, lodged a lawsuit last year.
Myanmar says the army was fighting a legitimate counter-insurgency campaign against militants who attacked security posts.
The government-appointed panel blamed Rohingya militants for attacking 30 police posts and “provoking” the crackdown, which it said did not amount to genocide.
The army said it was investigating alleged abuses in two villages: Maung Nu, where residents told the panel as many as 200 Muslims were killed after taking shelter in a single house, and Chut Pyin, where dozens more are alleged to have died.
“The Court of Inquiry will investigate such incidents and the trial of Court-Martial will be followed in accordance with the law and in line with the processes of Military Justice,” the army statement said. - Reuters