Myanmar's Suu Kyi denies 'genocidal intent' in Rohingya case at UN Court
The Hague, Dec 11: Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday denied "genocidal intent" as she defended Myanmar's military operation against Rohingya Muslims in the UN's top court.
Addressing judges in The Hague, Myanmar's civilian leader admitted that the army may have used "disproportionate force" but said that did not prove it was trying to wipe out the minority group.
The African state of The Gambia has taken Myanmar to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over a bloody 2017 military crackdown in which thousands of people were killed and around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Once hailed internationally for her defiance of Myanmar's junta, Suu Kyi was this time on the side of the southeast Asian nation's military when she took the stand.
"Regrettably The Gambia has placed before the court a misleading and incomplete picture of the situation in Rakhine state," Suu Kyi, wearing traditional Burmese dress and flowers in her hair, told the court.
She argued that the army was responding to an attack by hundreds of Rohingya militants in 2017.
"It cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the defence services in some cases in disregard of international humanitarian law, or that they did not distinguish clearly enough between fighters and civilians," she said.
But she said that Myanmar was undertaking its own investigations, adding: "Surely under the circumstances genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis."
The Gambia, which is mostly Muslim, accuses Myanmar of breaching the 1948 genocide convention and has asked the court to take emergency measures to stop further violence.
UN investigators last year concluded that Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya amounted to genocide while rights groups have detailed a catalogue of alleged abuses.
Suu Kyi however said that the court, set up in 1946 to rule on disputes between member states, had not confirmed genocide in cases of mass expulsions of civilians in the 1990s Balkans war.
Around 250 pro-Myanmar protesters gathered in front of the International Court of Justice, carrying placards with Aung San Suu Kyi's face reading "We stand with you" and carrying pictures of the leader.
"These allegations against Myanmar and Suu Kyi are rubbish," said Chomar Oosterhof, 53, a Burmese living in the Netherlands. "We just want our country to prosper and Suu Kyi is the person to do it."
Meanwhile, a small group of pro-Rohingya supporters were also gathered at the court, shouting: "Aung San Suu Kyi, shame on you!"
Another lone protester was holding up a poster of one of Myanmar's generals, saying "Wanted for Mass Murder."
The 74-year-old Suu Kyi sat impassively through graphic accounts of mass murder and rape on Tuesday as Gambia set out its case against Myanmar.
Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, who opened his country's case, said it would be "extremely disappointing" if Suu Kyi repeated her previous denials of wrongdoing by Myanmar.
He urged the court to tell her to "stop the genocide".
ICJ judges have only once before ruled that genocide was committed, in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.
Suu Kyi's decision to personally lead her country's case at the court has proved popular at home, where the Rohingya are widely regarded as illegal immigrants.
Flag-waving supporters joined rallies in support of Suu Kyi in several Myanmar cities on Tuesday and rally organisers in Yangon told AFP they had permission from authorities to live stream Wednesday's ICJ hearing on a big screen outside the City Hall.
Huge billboards of Suu Kyi and three smiling generals have also appeared around the country.
Aung San Suu Kyi was once mentioned in the same breath as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, having won the Nobel in 1991 for her resistance to Myanmar's brutal junta.
After 15 years under house arrest, she was freed in 2010 and led her party to victory in elections in 2015.
But her defence of the same military that once kept her locked up has since caused international condemnation.
Myanmar meanwhile faces a number of legal challenges over the fate of the Rohingya, including a probe by the International Criminal Court -- a separate war crimes tribunal in The Hague -- and a lawsuit in Argentina personally mentioning Suu Kyi.
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
