ROHINGYA GENOCIDE TRIAL: Her silence speaks more than words
The Gambia yesterday said Aung San Suu Kyi’s “silence” over allegations of sexual violence and rape carried out against Rohingya people “says far more than” her words, a day after the Nobel peace laureate defended Myanmar against genocide charges at the UN’s top court.
Prof Philippe Sands QC told the court: “Not a word [has been said by Aung San Suu Kyi] about the women and girls of Myanmar who have been subjected to these awful serial violations. Madame Agent [her status in court], your silence says far more than your words.”
Myanmar has not disputed at the ICJ hearing reports that 392 villages were destroyed in military clearance operations, or commented on widespread allegations of organised sexual violence and rape, the court was also told.
Sands was speaking for the Gambia, which has brought the charge that Myanmar’s military carried out mass murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities. Yesterday was the last day of the three-day hearing at the top UN court.
The African country alleges there have been “extrajudicial killings … sexual violence, burning of homes and destruction of livestock … calculated to bring about a destruction of the Rohingya group in whole or in part.”
“The word ‘rape’ did not once pass the lips of the agent,” added Sands, as Suu Kyi sat impassively in the courtroom, wearing traditional Burmese dress and flowers in her hair, reports The Guardian.
Later in her closing arguments at the hearing, she urged the UN judges to throw out the genocide case against Myanmar, warning it risked reigniting the crisis that forced nearly three quarters of a million Rohingya Muslims from their homes.
Suu Kyi also cautioned that allowing The Gambia’s case against Myanmar to go ahead could “undermine reconciliation”, reports AFP.
The de facto civilian leader even showed pictures of a football match recently played in the area affected by the violence in 2017 as evidence that was peace was returning
“I pray that the decision you make with the wisdom and vision of justice will help us create unity out of diversity.
“Steps that generate suspicions, sow doubts or create resentments between communities who have just begin to build the fragile foundation of trust could undermine reconciliation,” Suu Kyi mentioned in the short six-minute statement.
“Ending the ongoing internal conflict... is of the utmost importance for our country. But it is equally important to avoid any reignition of the 2016-17 internal armed conflict in northern Rakhine,” she added.
Once regarded as an international rights icon for standing up to Myanmar’s brutal junta, Suu Kyi’s reputation has been tarnished by her decision to side with the military over the Rohingya crisis.
She used a dramatic appearance at the court in The Hague on Wednesday to say there was no “genocidal intent” behind the operation that led to some 740,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh.
She defended Myanmar’s actions saying it faced an “internal conflict” and that the military conducted “clearance operations” after an attack by Rohingya militants in August 2017.
But Paul Reichler, another of the Gambia’s lawyers, said that those killed included “infants beaten to death or torn from their mothers’ arms and thrown into rivers to drown. How many of them were terrorists?”
“Armed conflict can never be an excuse for genocide.”
The lawyer said Suu Kyi had also failed to deny the conclusions of a 2018 UN investigation that found that genocide had been committed in Myanmar against the Rohingya, reports AFP.
“What is most striking is what Myanmar has not denied,” Reichler said.
The west African country’s lead lawyer repeated its demand for “provisional measures” to restrain the Myanmar military until the case is heard in full.
A decision on the measures could take months, while a final ruling if the ICJ decides to take on the full case could take years.
‘MYANMAR CANNOT BE TRUSTED’
The Gambia side also said Myanmar cannot be trusted to hold its soldiers accountable for alleged atrocities against its Rohingya minority, writes Reuters.
Paul Reichler said Myanmar had not even tried during the hearings to deny most of the accusations of extreme violence made against its military, known officially as the Tatmadaw, nor of the mass deportation of Rohingya following a 2017 crackdown.
Statements from Myanmar that it was taking action to prosecute soldiers accused of wrongdoing were incredible, he said.
“How can anyone possibly expect the Tatmadaw to hold itself accountable for genocidal acts against the Rohingya, when six of its top generals including the commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, have all been accused of genocide by the UN fact-finding mission and recommended for criminal prosecution,” he told the panel of 17 judges.
He was referring to the findings of UN investigators who in an August 2018 report said the Myanmar military had carried out killings and mass rape with “genocidal intent” in the 2017 operation. Gambia’s legal team had outlined graphic testimony from their report at the first day of hearings on Tuesday.
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