Myanmar on trial for Rohingya genocide

Myanmar is to answer for alleged atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims during a brutal military-led crackdown two years ago in a series of legal cases filed in recent weeks at courts across the globe including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The office of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday she would travel to The Hague for hearings in a case accusing the country of committing genocide. Human rights activists and lawyers are also pursuing several other avenues.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a Myanmar military offensive launched in August 2017 campaign that U.N. investigators described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

Soldiers, police, and Buddhist villagers are alleged to have razed hundreds of villages in the remote western Rakhine state, torturing residents as they fled, carrying out mass-killings and gang-rapes.

Myanmar has denied the allegations, saying security forces were carrying out legitimate operations against militants who attacked police posts.