Despite strong objections from the coup junta, including the summoning and warning of Timor-Leste’s ambassador, Timor-Leste has accepted the charges filed by the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) against junta leaders under its judicial system and has begun proceedings on the case.
The CHRO has indicted 10 senior junta officials, including coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Among the charges brought by the CHRO are cases alleging that a seven-month-pregnant woman was gang-raped by regime soldiers in front of her husband, and that 10 people including a journalist and a 13-year-old boy were killed by having their throats slit while their hands were tied behind their backs, and the CHRO submitted evidence for each case.
In addition, the CHRO has presented substantial evidence in the case involving the deliberate killing of a Christian pastor and three deacons.
Another charge alleges that the junta violated international law by carrying out a large-scale airstrike on a hospital, killing four health workers and four patients.
The CHRO’s indictment alleged that the junta’s targeting of religious buildings and civilian infrastructure constituted a deliberate assault on areas clearly protected under international law.
CHRO Executive Director Salai Za Uk welcomed Timor-Leste’s decision to accept the indictment and proceed with the case, saying his organization will work with Timor-Leste authorities and civil society groups to seek justice for the people of Myanmar.
The CHRO statement also noted that Timor-Leste, having endured its own struggle for independence, can empathize with the suffering of the Myanmar people.
“The rule of law is a priority issue for Timor-Leste”, said Jose Teixeira, from the Timorese law firm Da Silva Teixeira & Associados Lda, representing CHRO. “And it is vital that the independence of the Timorese judiciary is respected and that the legal process runs its course. We firmly reject any outside interference, particularly from the Myanmar junta, in Timor-Leste’s court system,” he added.
The case against the junta comes five years after the coup. The junta now controls only about 40 percent of the country’s territory and has lost much of the border region to resistance forces.
The CHRO statement said the opening of proceedings in Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, comes amid widespread international condemnation of Myanmar’s recent sham election, which was overseen by the junta itself.
