Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi gets hero welcome as she returns from The Hague
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Thousands of supporters of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi thronged the streets of the capital Naypyitaw on Saturday to celebrate her arrival back from The Hague, where she defended the country against genocide charges.
Radio Free Asia reports that Aung San Suu Kyi came up short in defending Myanmar before the U.N.’s top court this week on genocide charges for the army’s brutal expulsion of Rohingya Muslims, Myanmar and international legal experts said Friday, while her supporters defended her performance.
In testimony during the three-day ICJ hearing which ended Thursday, Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s lawyers denied that the violence meted out against Rohingya — which included killings, mass rape, torture and village burnings — was done with genocidal intent.
Repeating Myanmar’s stock response to overwhelming evidence presented since the events of 2017, she said the army had conducted a clearance operation to sweep the areas of Muslim insurgents who carried out deadly attacks on police outposts, and asked the ICJ to drop the case.
Gambia has accused Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention over a military campaign that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. It has asked the International Court of Justice to order “provisional measures” to prevent more harm.
Suu Kyi led a team to the Netherlands for three days of hearings, during which she denied genocide and argued the U.N. court should not have jurisdiction.
“Myanmar requests the court to remove the case from its list,” Suu Kyi said on the final day of hearings on Thursday. “In the alternative (the court should) reject the request for provisional measures submitted by the Gambia.”
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s surprise decision to attend the hearings in person has dealt a further blow to her tarnished international reputation.
