Hundreds rally in Yangon against genocide charges at the ICJ, as Myanmar defends its 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya minority.
YANGON: Hundreds of nationalist activists and monks rallied in downtown Yangon on Tuesday against Myanmar’s prosecution for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
The rare public protest, permitted by military authorities, featured dancing to drums and banners denying accusations of ethnic cleansing levelled at The Hague.
“We gather today for the dignity of our country, the truth for our country and for justice for our country,” ultra-nationalist activist Win Ko Ko Latt told AFP.
He claimed Myanmar is a land of loving kindness where genocide does not exist.
Myanmar is defending itself at the ICJ from allegations its 2017 crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority breached the UN genocide convention.
The country’s leaders insist the Rohingya are immigrants from Bangladesh and that the military action targeted a militant uprising.
Executions, rape and torture by the army and Buddhist militias forced over one million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The ICJ hearings began on January 12 and are due to conclude on Thursday, though a final ruling could take months or years.
A guilty verdict would increase pressure on Myanmar, already considered a pariah state by many after the 2021 military coup.
The United States and other countries already deem the military crackdown a genocide.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has been sanctioned over the armed forces’ actions.
Other genocide cases are open at the International Criminal Court and in Argentina under universal jurisdiction.
The 2017 campaign began during a democratic interlude under then-leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Nobel laureate appeared at The Hague in 2019 to defend Myanmar’s generals against the allegations.
Suu Kyi, 80, has been detained by the military since the coup five years ago.
