Rights group calls for probe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A human rights group has called on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into the crackdown on dissent by Myanmar’s military rulers, alleging that the leader of the February coup in the Southeast Asian nation is responsible for widespread and systematic torture.

The Myanmar Accountability Project said in a statement Friday that there was sufficient evidence to open an investigation into the head of the country’s militaryinstalled government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

“The leader of the illegal coup is criminally responsible for the security forces under his command committing mass atrocity crimes,” project director Chris Gunness said.

The documents filed with prosecutors at the court in The Hague were not made public, but Gunness said they contain testimony from a defector “that shows responsibility for the torture goes all the way up to Min Aung Hlaing himself.”

Gunness said the testimony corroborates findings by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council. The head of the mechanism, Nicholas Koumjian, said in November that preliminary evidence collected since the military seized power on Feb. 1 shows a widespread and systematic attack on civilians “amounting to crimes against humanity.”

Earlier this week, witnesses and other sources said government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be children, tied them up and slaughtered them. A video of the aftermath of Tuesday’s assault — apparently carried out in retaliation for an attack on a military convoy — showed the charred bodies of 11 people amid what appeared to be the remains of a hut.

Myanmar’s militaryinstalled government described the reports as “fake news.”

The International Criminal Court already is investigating mass expulsions of members of the Rohingya ethnic minority by the Myanmar military as a possible crime against humanity.