A Rohingya woman has testified that how the Myanmar military carried out a brutal massacre in their village. The women spoke remotely to the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Bueno Aires from the world’s largest refugee camp in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar. According to a statement from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, the ladies described how soldiers killed their husbands in Myanmar’s Rakhine state of Chuk Pyin (BROUK).
The case was brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which permits the prosecution of serious international crimes. A representative of Burma’s Rohingya Muslim minority testified in court in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trial’s goal is to convict them of crimes against humanity.
Soldiers were then accused of raping several young women in their community before burning down their homes, according to the statement of this Rohingya woman. Before escaping to Bangladesh, the women had been victims of sexual abuse by security forces in Rakhine State. For the sake of privacy, the victims’ identities have been changed.
Argentinean federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether the Burmese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people in Myanmar (also known as Burma). This is the first hearing after the BROUK petitioned Argentinean courts to open a probe into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders.
In August, six women testified remotely to the court from refugee camps in Bangladesh. Other proceedings against Myanmar and its leaders are already underway at the International Criminal Court and UN’s International Court of Justice.
Tun Khin, President of BROUK said at the hearing time:
“This is the first time anywhere in the world that a Rohingya has a chance to sit in person in front of a court of law, impartial and independent, to talk about the crimes against us.”
If accepted by the court, it will be the first universal jurisdiction case related to the Rohingya crisis anywhere in the world. “This is not just for the Rohingya, but for all our brothers and sisters in Myanmar who have suffered through military abuse,” says Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The case in Argentina will cover a wide range of crimes, including mass murder, enforced disappearances, widespread torture, and sexual violence. In 2017, around 8 lakh Rohingyas fled Rakhine as a result of the military crackdown. But since the 1980s, there have been multiple waves of Rohingya inflow from the state.
