Timor-Leste Opens Legal Proceedings against Myanmar’s Military Junta

Legal authorities in Timor-Leste have initiated legal proceedings against Myanmar’s military junta, including its leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 
  
The move comes after the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) last month submitted a criminal file in Dili, accusing the junta of a litany of abuses, including rape, murder, and the indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations in Chin State. 
  
In a statement yesterday, the CHRO, which represents Myanmar’s Chin ethnic minority, and the Myanmar Accountability Project, a legal advocacy group, said that a “senior Timorese prosecutor” had been appointed to examine the criminal file submitted by the organization. 
  
Salai Za Uk, the executive director of CHRO, welcomed the move, saying that he and his colleagues “look forward to working with the Timorese authorities, as well as civil society groups in Timor-Leste, on pursuing justice for the Chin People and all people in Myanmar.” 
  
The complaint was made under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, allows the victims of atrocities to bring charges in foreign courts against “particular crimes of international concern, no matter where the crime was committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or their victims.” 
  
Read more here.