Myanmar military junta formally accused of alleged war crimes before Philippines' justice department
At the Philippines' Department of Justice on Wednesday (Oct 25), five Myanmar nationals filed a criminal complaint for war crimes they alleged were committed by members of the junta.
Myanmar nationals file a criminal complaint accusing the military junta of war crimes at the Department of Justice in Manila, Philippines October 25, 2023. On right is complainant Zing Ral Tu, whose father was shot to death on his way to deliver medical supplies.
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MANILA: Myanmar’s military junta has been formally accused of war crimes before the Philippines' Department of Justice in Manila, in an unprecedented case that seeks to invoke universal jurisdiction.
In a sworn 160-page joint criminal complaint-affidavit filed on Wednesday (Oct 25), five natives of Thantlang village in Myanmar's only Christian-majority state of Chin named 10 high-ranking military and military-appointed officials as respondents, including junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
The accusations included the killing of a pastor and two church elders, and what families of victims said was the systematic burning down of civilian houses in their village in September 2021 by Myanmar's military – known as the Tatmadaw.
The fires were "due to the heavy artillery strikes on civilian houses by soldiers of the Myanmar military", read the caption of a photo showing what remained of a burnt two-storey structure featured in the affidavit.
Philippine prosecutors would need to approve an indictment based on probable cause before a case can move to court.
POST-COUP VIOLENCE
After Myanmar's military coup in February 2021 that saw the ousting of the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, violence engulfed the predominantly Buddhist country.
In September that year, houses in Thantlang were set ablaze by the junta, said locals.
Nearly all the villagers fled across the border to neighbouring Mizoram state in northeast India.
The complaint cited the February 25, 2022 report by the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights, which attributed the burning down of more than 900 buildings in Thantlang to the Tatmadaw Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) 222 over the course of at least 23 successive attacks.
Complainant Zing Ral Tu's father was a Baptist church elder who was shot to death on his way to Thantlang to deliver medical supplies, after the village suffered the mass arson.
“My father and his friend were murdered by the Burmese army,” she told reporters as she wept.
Her father was a respected community leader who was among those who helped broker a peace deal for a ceasefire in 2012 between the warring Myanmar army and Chin National Army.
Complainants also alleged that the Tatmadaw "randomly opened fire" at a Thantlang residential area on September 18, 2021, following an intense encounter between the military and combined forces of two armed groups that saw over 30 of the junta's soldiers killed.
Also cited in the complaint was the slaying of a 30-year-old Baptist pastor Cung Biak Hum on the day of the clashes. He was allegedly stopped and shot, as he helped lead a group of men to put out fires.
"No soldier of LIB 222 was allowed to shoot anyone or fire any gun without permission from their column commander," read the affidavit.
The complaint said the pastor wore civilian clothing and rode a civilian motorcycle, and took no part in the hostilities.
It added that loved ones were unable to immediately retrieve his body, as soldiers who "were randomly shooting at people" remained at the roadside where his corpse laid.
"The soldiers also cut off Pastor Cung Biak Hum's ring finger and stole his wedding ring, watch, and mobile phone," read the affidavit.
"UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION" OVER MYANMAR'S GENERALS
Filipino lawyers representing the Myanmar nationals argued that the Philippines can try these cases based on its International Humanitarian Act, which makes international customary and conventional law applicable as a guide to local courts.
“Universal jurisdiction means that any state can prosecute a crime,” said Mr Romel Bagares, a lawyer for the complainants.
“This is not an ordinary crime. It's considered a crime against the entire international community. What we've brought to the attention of the DOJ are war crimes targeting civilians, mutilation, and the targeting of civilian objects. Houses of civilians were burned down. Churches were burned down.”
Lawyer Michael Tiu Jr, an international humanitarian law expert from the University of the Philippines, said the alleged war crimes may be covered by universal jurisdiction under the Act, if they were perpetrated in the Philippines or against Filipinos.
"A strict reading (of the law) will mean that there are parameters to the exercise of jurisdiction which may limit the seizing of jurisdiction in this particular case," he told CNA.
However, he added that the same Act makes international customary law applicable, which could be interpreted to mean a Philippine trial is indeed possible, regardless of the perpetrators’ nationality.
"So, one may also read in the Geneva Conventions and other laws to posit that 'regardless of nationality' means anybody can be tried in the Philippines if war crimes of this nature had been committed," he explained.
Cases against the Myanmar army have also been filed in Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Türkiye.
Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines are members of regional grouping the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a policy of non-interference into each member state's domestic affairs.
FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
Even if the Philippines’ justice department acknowledges the war crimes complaint, it is unclear whether the country is equipped to offer judicial refuge.
The lack of justice for victims of heinous crimes in the country has drawn international criticism, specifically for failing to prosecute high-ranking officials in the thousands of deaths during former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan has requested to enter the Philippines as part of his office's preliminary investigation over alleged crimes against humanity in relation to Mr Duterte's controversial anti-drug campaign, a probe that was greenlighted over perceived lack of willingness and ability of the nation to prosecute the campaign's brutality.
Mr Socrates Villegas, a well-regarded archbishop of the country's Catholic Church, urged the government not to bar the entry of fact finders and investigators from Mr Khan's office.
"Truth has never destroyed a nation," he said in an Oct 25 statement.
"Our sense of nationhood cannot be so fragile that it cannot allow the entry of persons clothed with international authority to make a determination for themselves that our agencies of law enforcement and prosecution are willing and able to prosecute and try persons responsible for what can only be characterized as truly heinous assaults on human life," he added.
Woes hound the Philippines' justice system, where trials are notoriously slow and court dockets are clogged, said observers.
Only 2 per cent of criminal cases as of 2019 were resolved within the prescribed duration.
Yet, Thantlang village native Salai Ling, who has been documenting the Myanmar military's abuses for the past 25 years, said it is still worth a try in the Philippines to hold the junta accountable for their crimes.
“It so happens that the Philippines has this legal tradition where this type of universal jurisdiction cases have been brought forward and prosecuted,” said the deputy executive director of the non-profit Chin Human Rights Organization.
“Justice is something that we need to keep fighting for. Even in the darkest of times, at the end of the day, you have to have hope.”
