Myanmar's most wanted – and how they could be brought to justice

Yahoo

21-05-2025

It was hoped that the earthquake that struck Myanmar seven weeks ago, flattening cities and killing thousands, would lead to respite from the country's civil war.
Instead – despite a purported ceasefire – the military regime has ramped up its attacks, killing hundreds of civilians in recent weeks, according to a United Nations tally.
Last week at least 20 pupils and two teachers died when military jets bombed a school in Sagaing region, just 65 miles north-west of the quake's epicentre. The youngest victim was seven.
'Parents of the deceased children were consumed by profound sorrow, frantically searching and embracing the lifeless bodies of their sons and daughters,' a doctor at the scene, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Telegraph.
'We will remember their names, their faces, the vibrant spark that was extinguished,' they said. 'We will demand justice, not just for these lost children, but for all the innocent lives caught in this brutal war.'
But what might that justice look like – and who could be held responsible for the atrocities committed in Myanmar?
Myanmar has been in the grip of a civil war since a coup in February 2021, when Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the army, led a coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government, triggering widespread protests and a violent crackdown.
At least 81,000 people have since died, according to ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data), which collects data on conflicts around the world. Figures compiled by NGOs estimate at least 6,600 fatalities were civilians.
While some of the patchwork network of opposition groups have also been accused of atrocities, human rights groups have accused the junta of abuses including mass killings, arbitrary arrest, and torture.
They also say the military has used 'scorched earth' tactics in some regions, and deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure to squash opposition. One of the most devastating examples of this was in Pa Zi Gyi village in 2023, when an airstrike killed 155 civilians.
'They're targeting civilian infrastructure including hospitals, religious sites and of course schools,' said John Quinley, a director at Fortify Rights, which has documented war crimes across the country. 'This is a deliberate attack on the civilian population to wreak havoc and to try to instil fear amongst any resistance to the military,' he said.
Lawyers, the UN and human rights organisations have identified dozens of individuals responsible for atrocities committed by the military regime during the civil war.
Although there are currently no international court cases against these figures for crimes committed after the coup, many of those implicated are also being investigated for their role in widespread and systematic attacks on the Rohingya people in 2016 and 2017.
The Muslim ethnic minority group, who predominantly lived in the western Rakhine state, faced a brutal crackdown that involved mass killings, sexual violence and forced displacement. A UN fact-finding mission has since said the military intended to perpetrate a genocide.
Cases related to the crimes against the Rohingya are currently unfolding in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice, and under universal jurisdiction laws in Argentina.
There are two figures at the top of the list of Myanmar's most wanted.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, 68 studied law at Yangon University in the 1970s – avoiding the anti-military protests that characterised that period in Myanmar.
He entered the Defence Services Academy in 1974, and it was here where, according to the New York Times, he earned a reputation as a bully.
Three years later, after he graduated, his military career began with assignments leading the elite light infantry divisions.
These units were often deployed in the restive border regions to quell opposition from ethnic minority groups.
As a young commander he spent time in Myanmar's Shan state, Rakhine and Chin – some of the places where the insurgency today is strongest.
Min Aung Hlaing rose through the ranks to become a special operations commander and then, in 2011, he was picked by the former military ruler Than Shwe to become commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
In 2021, he led the coup and bestowed civilian titles including prime minister on himself, to go alongside his military rank.
Min Aung Hlaing has ultimate command and control over the police and security forces, and is wanted in connection to crimes against humanity. He has also been held responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya population in 2016 and 2017.
In November 2024, the ICC's chief prosecutor said he had requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity over the alleged persecution of the Rohingya. It is not clear if that warrant has yet been issued. But in February 2025, a federal court in Buenos Aires also issued an arrest warrant, with charges including a genocide against the Rohingua.
The UK, United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and the European have imposed sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing, including bans on travel and financial transactions and asset freezes.
Vice Senior General Soe Win graduated from the Defence Services Academy in 1981, is considered a close ally of Min Aung Hung.
According to Fulcrum, he served in Kachin state, a border region, for the Northern Command.
He became commander of the unit in 2008, and later as chief of the Bureau of Special Operations he oversaw operations in Chin, Rakhine and Magway.
Soe Win was promoted to Vice Commander-in-Chief in 2011, and had a position on the committee responsible for negotiating with Myanmar's many armed ethnic rebel groups. After the coup, he took on the title of deputy prime minister.
He is included in the Argentinian court's arrest warrant, issued in February, and the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and the European Union have imposed sanctions on him, including asset freezes and travel bans.
The machinery of Myanmar's ruling junta is vast, and there are dozens of other officials who could one day be held responsible for its crimes.
Fortify Rights and Yale Law School have identified 61 high-ranking military and police officials who could potentially be held criminally liable for crimes against humanity since the coup.
Among them are General Maung Maung Aye, the Joint-Chief of staff for Myanmar's army, navy, and air force and the Chief of Armed Forces Training; General Mya Tun Oo, the Minister for Defense and member of the SAC; General Tin Aung San, Minister of Transport and Communications and member of the SAC; and General Maung Maung Kyaw, a key member of the SAC.
The Myanmar military regime did not respond to questions from The Telegraph.
Previously, the SAC has denied accusations that it has committed crimes against humanity.
After the arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing was issued, the junta said the country is not a member of the ICC and does not recognise its statements.
There are several ongoing attempts to bring key members of the SAC to justice in international courts, although this is a slow process with significant hurdles.
So far, for instance, the ICC has only investigated atrocities linked to the Rohingya, and they were only able to do so because they fled to Bangladesh. The country, unlike Myanmar, is a member of the court and therefore within ICC jurisdiction.
A trial is some way away – and while prosecutors have asked for a warrant for Min Aung Hliang, it's not yet clear if one has actually been issued.
But the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte – the former president of the Philippines, who now sits in a jail in The Hague ahead of an ICC trial – has raised hopes that one day Min Aung Hliang could be next.
'The overarching point is that international justice is usually a slow and winding path,' said Richard Horsey, a Myanmar researcher at the Crisis Group think-tank. 'But the fact that it's slow and winding doesn't mean that it never reaches its destination.
We can see that from the fact that Duterte is currently sitting in The Hague. And who would have expected that? There are other examples – Pinochet, for instance. Politics changes and as politics change, new possibilities open up.'
In the meantime, rights groups and the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) are continuing to document abuses, which could be used in future cases.
And in Argentina, where a genocide case has been filed under international jurisdiction rules, a court issued an arrest warrant for 25 people in February.
This includes key military officials but also, controversially, Aung San Suu Kyi. The de facto head of government when the military attacked the Rohingya, she has been accused of doing too little to prevent atrocities. Now under house arrest in Myanmar, she remains a wildly popular figure at home and has denied culpability.
Tun Khin, a president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK – which has been key in bringing about the Argentinian case, said 'powerful testimony' from seven survivors led to the arrest warrants. But he added that the process has now stalled, as no one has been apprehended.
'Unfortunately it is now a slow process, as [those implicated] need to be present for the trial to happen,' he said. 'I believe one day that can happen, but we don't know when.'
Mr Quinley added that, in the short term, it is likely that some justice will be achieved through the courts set up by the ethnic organisations that control parts of the border regions.
'At a state level, there are now governance structures in Myanmar that are quite sophisticated, that are able to prosecute perpetrators for crimes,' he said. 'These domestic justice mechanisms… are doing an amazing job, in the midst of being bombed.'
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