ICJ Holds First Trial of Myanmar's Genocide Case Against Rohingya Ethnic Groups

Rohingya refugees stranded on the beach area of Lampanah Leugah, Aceh Besar, Thursday, February 16, 2023 (ANTARA FOTO-Ampelsa)

JAKARTA - The case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Muslim minority, the Rohingya, has begun to be reopened at the highest court of the United Nations.

This will be the first case of genocide to be fully tried by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in more than a decade. The ICJ will begin the trial that dragged Myanmar's military junta on Monday, January 12 morning local time.

The verdict in this trial is also expected to have an impact on the Israeli genocide case in Gaza that South Africa has submitted to the ICJ.

"This case will likely set an important precedent on how genocide is defined and how it can be proven, and how violations can be repaired," Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Independent Investigation Mechanism for Myanmar, told Reuters, quoted by NBC News.

Gambia, a West African country with a Muslim majority, filed the Rohingya genocide case with the ICJ - also known as the World Court - in 2019.

Gambia accused Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya, a Muslim-majority minority in the remote western state of Rakhine.

Myanmar has denied the genocide allegations.

Myanmar denies accusations of murder, mass rape and arson amid a 2017 military crackdown that forced at least 730,000 members of the country's Muslim minority group, the Rohingya, to flee to Bangladesh.