A delegation led by Salai Za Uk, executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), visited the Presidential Palace in Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, on January 14 and held an hour-long meeting with President José Ramos-Horta, the CHRO announced.

During the meeting with President Ramos-Horta, the CHRO delegation presented evidence of war crimes and brutal governing practices committed by Myanmar’s coup junta.

In particular, the CHRO briefed the Timor-Leste president on the junta’s airstrikes on hospitals, schools and churches, as well as the systematic killing of civilians.

The CHRO also informed the host president of its effort that led to the indictment in absentia of 10 coup regime members in Dili over junta troops’ killing of 10 people including a journalist and a child in Matupi Township, Chin State, and the execution of religious leaders.

“Although justice is denied in our own country, we believe we can reclaim the justice we have lost by continuing to pursue it in Timor-Leste,” said Salai Za Uk.

Timor-Leste and Myanmar share similar struggles for freedom and justice, making the meeting an opportunity to convey the grievances of the Myanmar people to the world through the people of Timor-Leste, the CHRO said in a Facebook post.

On January 12, the CHRO submitted an indictment application to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Dili, invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction to address war crimes committed by the junta.

The application was officially submitted by Salai Za Uk, with the support of the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP), and was assisted by José Teixeira and Nuno Marazes, lawyers from the Timor-Leste–based law firm Da Silva Teixeira & Associados Lda.