25 Jan. () –
Burmese activists and alleged victims of abuse have filed a criminal complaint with the German Court against senior Burmese army generals, accusing them of instigating genocide against the Rohingya community since the military coup two years ago.
This accusation is a new effort to try to hold the Burmese Armed Forces to account for alleged atrocities against the country’s Rohingya minority by human rights groups, the organization Fortify Rights has reported to the CNA news agency.
“The complaint provides new evidence proving that the Myanmar Army systematically killed, raped, tortured, imprisoned, disappeared, persecuted and committed other acts amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said the executive director. of Fortify Rights, Matthew Smith, at a press conference in Bangkok.
The association has reported that it has chosen Germany to present the complaint because of its recognition of the principle of “universal jurisdiction”, which maintains that a national court can try people accused of serious international crimes.
In this sense, Fortify Rights has shared its hope that the German authorities address the complaint and initiate an investigation, since last year a German court imprisoned a former Syrian intelligence officer for murder, rape and crimes against humanity, according to the said agency.
Among the complainants, a total of 16 people, include members of the Rohingya minority as well as other people who survived or witnessed crimes in Burma since the coup, according to the organization.
The Rohingya are an ethnic minority of the Muslim faith that is concentrated in the Burmese state of Rakhine (or Arakan, as the Rohingya call it). Burma considers them descendants of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and does not recognize them as citizens, thereby depriving them of basic rights.
The Burmese authorities are being investigated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this year after the Gambia filed a complaint for alleged genocide against the Rohingya population in the Asian country.
