Why is the ICC prosecutor pursuing Myanmar's top general?

(Reuters) -The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar's junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity related to the alleged persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Below are facts about the case, the Rohingya exodus and the 68-year-old general's role in Myanmar's intractable conflicts.

ALLEGED GANG-RAPES, MASS KILLINGS

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, escaping a military offensive in August 2017 while Min Aung Hlaing was armed forces chief under a civilian-led government. U.N. investigators later described the campaign as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing", citing widespread atrocities including mass killings, sexual violence, and the destruction of villages.

Soldiers, police, and Buddhist villagers are alleged to have razed hundreds of villages in the remote western Rakhine state.

The offensive was in response to raids by Rohingya insurgents on 30 police posts and an army base in Rakhine State, where, according to the military, at least 12 members of the security forces were killed.

Myanmar's government at the time denied the allegations, saying security forces were carrying out legitimate operations against militants.

In 2020, the U.N. special envoy to Myanmar accused the military of war crimes in Rakhine after civilians were struck by air and artillery attacks during its conflict with insurgents.

The Rohingya comprise the world's biggest stateless population and more than a million now live in sprawling camps in Bangladesh having fled violence in Myanmar.

MILITARY COUP

Led by Min Aung Hlaing, the military seized power in Myanmar in February 2021, ousting democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government. Mass demonstrations ensued and were put down with lethal force.

The crackdown gave rise to a resistance movement that has collaborated with ethnic minority armies to challenge the junta on multiple fronts. The military has been accused of widespread atrocities against civilians. It has rejected that as Western falsehoods and says it is targeting terrorists.

The Rohingya minority has also been caught up in the post-coup conflict, as the military battles against a local ethnic minority rebel group in Rakhine, the Arakan Army.

In August, about 180 people, including many women and children, were killed in artillery shelling and drone attacks near the bank of the Naf River adjoining Maungdaw, according to a U.N. estimate of casualties from the assault. The Arakan Army and Myanmar's military blamed each other for the incident.

Some Rohingya have been forcibly conscripted by the military to fight the Arakan Army, while Rohingya militants have entered the fray and have been recruiting fighters in camps in Bangladesh.

ICC INVESTIGATION

The ICC, the world's only permanent war crimes court, in 2019 authorised its chief prosecutor to begin a full investigation into alleged crimes against humanity, specifically the deportation of Rohingya from Myanmar.

Myanmar is not a party to the court's establishing Rome Statute, but the ICC set a major legal precedent by allowing prosecutors to investigate crimes committed against Rohingya in Myanmar because they were forced to flee to Bangladesh, which recognises the court's jurisdiction.

The probe has been hampered not only by a lack of access to the country, but because of a raging civil war and that the military is now in charge in Myanmar. The prosecutor's office on Wednesday said its investigation was extensive, independent and impartial, and more applications for arrest warrants relating to Myanmar would follow.

Myanmar, under its former government, refused to engage with the ICC, saying it had no jurisdiction.

In response to the announcement on Wednesday that an arrest warrant would be sought for Min Aung Hlaing, the junta said the country was not a member of the ICC and did not recognise its statements.

A panel of three judges will now decide if they agree there are "reasonable grounds" to believe Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh. There is no set timeframe for their decision, but it generally takes around three months to rule on issuing an arrest warrant.

(Compiled by Shoon Naing; Editing by Martin Petty and Alex Richardson)