Five Myanmar nationals have filed a criminal complaint with the Philippines to investigate alleged war crimes committed by 10 members of Myanmar’s junta, including leader Min Aung Hlaing, over murdering civilians and torching houses in Chin State.
The complaint lodged with the Department of Justice in Manila on Wednesday comes on the second anniversary of the mass arson attack on the town of Thantlang, which was part of a 2021 offensive in Chin State that saw some 2,000 homes destroyed, at least 250 people killed and 60,000 driven into India, according to the Myanmar Accountability Project.
Filipino lawyers said the Philippines’ International Humanitarian Law Act obligated Manila to prosecute war crimes committed in other countries, once formally brought to its attention.
“The atrocities being committed in Chin State are part of Myanmar’s forgotten war against the Chin,” Salai Ling, one of the complainants and a member of the Chin Human Rights Organisation, said in a press release.
“We are Christians whose pastors are being murdered and whose churches and faith-based schools are being destroyed in a systematic campaign by junta forces. With this persecution of Myanmar’s Christians continuing, we pray that our brothers and sisters in the Philippines will hear our cry and grant us justice.”
The complainants are from Chin State and but now in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and India to avoid the junta’s violence. Among the accused is Dr Vung Suan Thang, who is a former military officer and the junta’s Chin State chief minister, and five generals.
“I am dreaming of accountability for the brutal murder of my father and Pu Hram Cung. They were Baptist church elders, good men who served their communities with pride and paid the ultimate price. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten,” said another complainant, a daughter of Pu Ral Tu.
Pu Ral Tu was shot dead on September 29, 2021, along with his friend, Pu Hram Cung, as they went to Thantlang, which was under attack by the military, to bring medicine to displaced residents, the press release stated.
“I will not accept that my nephew’s death was in vain. He died attempting to save fellow citizens from raging fires. I beseech the Philippine authorities to grant us the justice we pray for,” said the uncle of Pastor Cung Biak Hum.
The 30-year-old pastor was killed on September 18, 2021, by junta soldiers while putting out fires at houses. He said he would not accept that his nephew’s death was in vain.
Soldiers cut off the pastor’s finger to steal his wedding ring and took other belongings.
“We respectfully request the authorities in Manila to open an investigation into these horrendous crimes in Chin State. There is a plethora of evidence gathered by the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism, so therefore much of the initial work has been done. We have also petitioned ASEAN to promote regional justice mechanisms and this case in the Philippines sends a powerful signal to our regional partners,” said lawyer Gilbert Andres.
The civilian National Unity Government’s Human Rights Minister U Aung Myo Min told The Irrawaddy that his ministry was working with the United Nations and international tribunals in Argentina, Germany, Indonesia and Turkey that accept and prosecute individuals from other countries for serious crimes based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. Some countries accepted the complaints and had started investigations, he said.
