Sebastian Strangio – Legal authorities in Timor-Leste have initiated legal proceedings against Myanmar's military junta, including its leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The move comes after the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) last month submitted a criminal file in Dili, accusing the junta of a litany of abuses, including rape, murder, and the indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations in Chin State.

In a statement yesterday, the CHRO, which represents Myanmar's Chin ethnic minority, and the Myanmar Accountability Project, a legal advocacy group, said that a "senior Timorese prosecutor" had been appointed to examine the criminal file submitted by the organization.

Salai Za Uk, the executive director of CHRO, welcomed the move, saying that he and his colleagues "look forward to working with the Timorese authorities, as well as civil society groups in Timor-Leste, on pursuing justice for the Chin People and all people in Myanmar."

He added, "Given Timor Leste's history, and the indignities the Timorese people suffered in their struggle for independence, there is a real sense of solidarity with the people of Myanmar, against whom the junta is inflicting appalling barbarities on an almost hourly basis."

The CHRO says that it presented "irrefutable evidence" to the Timorese prosecutor of a host of atrocities in Chin State. Among them were the "gang rape of a seven-month pregnant woman in front of her husband" and the massacre of 10 people, "including a journalist and a 13-year-old boy, who was among eight people who had their hands tied behind their backs and their throats slit." The complaint also accuses the military of a series of attacks on Christian churches and "a disproportionate and indiscriminate aerial attack on a hospital."

The complaint was made under the principle of "universal jurisdiction," which, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, allows the victims of atrocities to bring charges in foreign courts against "particular crimes of international concern, no matter where the crime was committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or their victims."

While it remains to be seen whether the Timorese prosecutor will accept the complaint, the case adds to the accumulating legal cases facing Myanmar's military. Most of them center on the military's campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine State in 2017, which drove more than 740,000 across the border into Bangladesh, although some also address other atrocities committed since the military coup of February 2021.

Rohingya victims and legal advocacy groups have now initiated or sought to initiate universal jurisdiction cases against the Myanmar military in Argentina, the Philippines, Turkey, Germany, and Indonesia, addressing both the crimes committed against the Rohingya and other post-coup abuses. A court in Argentina last year issued an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, accusing him of committing "genocide and crimes against humanity" against the Rohingya. However, in late 2023, Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor declined to open an investigation into Myanmar's generals, reportedly citing the absence of Min Aung Hlaing and other named perpetrators in Germany as a "decisive factor."

There are also cases progressing at the international level. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the main court of the United Nations, last month held its first substantive hearings in the case brought by The Gambia, which alleges that the Myanmar military committed genocide during and after its "clearance operation" against the Rohingya in August 2017. In late 2024, the International Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya.

According to the CHRO, this is the first time that a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has initiated such an action against a fellow ASEAN member state. Indeed, it is very much contrary to the "ASEAN way," which is premised on a conservative interpretation of "non-interference" in member states' "internal affairs."

Timor-Leste became ASEAN's 11th member in October, despite the protestations of the Myanmar junta, which has been angered by its outspoken criticism of the military administration and gestures of support for Myanmar opposition groups. Over the past few years, senior leaders, including President Jose Ramos-Horta, have met with members of the opposition National Unity Government, and Timorese authorities allowed the group to set up a liaison office in Dili. However, after Myanmar's junta expelled Timor-Leste's top diplomat from the country and expressed its opposition to the country's ASEAN membership bid, Foreign Minister Bandito dos Santos Freitas pledged during a visit to Naypyidaw in September, not to "allow the activities of illegal organizations" on its soil.

However, it is clear that while Timor-Leste's government may face fresh constraints as an ASEAN member state, it is still willing to express its support, even indirectly, for the pro-democracy cause in Myanmar. Last month, the junta's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest with Timor-Leste after Ramos-Horta met with representatives of the CHRO in Dili, describing it as "blatant interference."

How the Timorese prosecutor and the government that appointed them responds to the CHRO's complaint will say a lot about how ASEAN's newest member state intends to deal with Myanmar going forward – and to what extent ASEAN membership blunts its advocacy on the issue.

Source: https://thediplomat.com/2026/02/timor-leste-opens-legal-proceedings-against-myanmars-military-junta