WHY NOW?
Khan mentioned his request follows “renewed consideration” to the court docket’s investigation, which started in 2019.
Some analysts word that the announcement comes days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former protection minister and the army chief of Hamas.
“There is a touch of political expediency within the prosecutor’s determination to make use of the Rohingya to seem balanced,” mentioned unbiased Myanmar analyst David Mathieson.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of the junta, has been below arrest warrant since March 2023.
WILL MIN AUNG HLAING BE ARRESTED?
If the warrant is granted, the 124 members of the ICC are obliged to arrest the junta chief if he travels to their nation.
The junta says that “the ICC statements have by no means been acknowledged” by Myanmar, which isn’t a member.
The normal visited Indonesia for a regional summit shortly after the coup, however not often ventures overseas today.
Since then his solely reported international journeys have been to strategy allies and arms suppliers China and Russia, neither of that are members of the ICC.
An ICC warrant in Russia could be seen as a badge of honor, mentioned Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.
“With Putin particularly, this might strengthen their camaraderie.”
WHAT WILL IT MEAN FOR MYANMAR?
“The Rohingya have been ready for this,” mentioned Senoara Khatun, a neighborhood college trainer in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
“I hope that each felony will probably be delivered to justice by the International Criminal Court in accordance with the regulation.”
As the junta struggled to quell resistance to its rule, the rights group says it razed villages, carried out extrajudicial killings and used assault planes and artillery to bomb communities suspected of being oppositionists.
Any mandate “will nearly definitely not change the conduct of their forces on the bottom,” Horsey mentioned.
According to Mathieson, such a call may even have the impact of “growing his esteem amongst Rohingya haters and hardcore nationalists.”
“It can be chilly consolation to the remainder of Myanmar, the place heinous crimes are perpetrated day-after-day and impunity abounds,” he mentioned.
“International accountability is gradual.”
