Criminal charges of torture filed against Myanmar junta leaders in Turkey

A criminal file was opened in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday against Myanmar junta leaders for torture, an international group building legal cases against members of the country’s military announced. 

The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) said in a statement that the complaint is the first of its kind to be brought before a national court system outside of Myanmar since the February 2021 coup.

While details of the case remain confidential, it centres on reports of torture perpetrated in the notorious Yay Kyi Ai military interrogation centre in Yangon’s Mingaladon Township. 

“This file is just the tip of the iceberg,” MAP director Chris Gunness said. “Since the coup, the use of torture has become widespread and systematic, raising it to the level of international crimes.”

He cited a report by the UN Human Rights Council stating that since the coup, some 325 people—including 26 children—had been tortured to death by the military council’s forces.

Myanmar Now has reported on multiple allegations of abuse in the Yay Kyi Ai centre, including that of a motorcycle taxi driver who was arrested last October for assisting youth protesters and died in junta custody the next day, reportedly in the interrogation centre. 

Senior National League for Democracy leader Monywa Aung Shin died last November just one month after being released after months of detention in Yay Kyi Ai, where he was held since the coup despite suffering from chronic health conditions.

The pursuit of international jurisdiction regarding alleged crimes in Myanmar is a response to inaction by blocs such as ASEAN and the UN Security Council, Gunness said.

“The UN Security Council has been side-lined by the threat of a Russian and Chinese veto and has not even been able to consider a resolution, let alone pass one,” he explained.

There were multiple reasons why Turkey was selected as the nation in which to proceed with the case, MAP’s Gunness explained, noting that the country had voted in favour of a June resolution at the UN General Assembly denying the junta recognition within the body. 

Itself a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture, Turkey also holds extradition treaties with multiple countries who have ratified the treaty, creating possible opportunities for prosecution even if those accused do not set foot on Turkish soil. 

“There are many ways to ensnare the perpetrators,” the MAP director told Myanmar Now. 

“The evidence is very solid and with so much sympathy in Turkey for the people of Myanmar, dating back to the genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims in 2017, the political environment is also sympathetic to a conviction,” MAP’s chief legal counsel Gülden Sönmez said in the organisation’s statement. 

Sönmez is also named as the lawyer in a January case filed in Istanbul by members of the ethnic Uighur community accusing more than 100 Chinese officials of committing crimes against humanity against the minority in detention camps in their home country, which the state denies exist. 

At the time, she told media outlets that prosecution in Turkey was critical given the lack of action taken by international bodies—including the UN Security Council—against the Chinese authorities in light of the grave allegations.