Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has enacted a law against genocide, which opponents of the coup regime say may be used to against resistance fighters launching guerilla attacks against the Myanmar military and its supporters.
The military-run Global New Light of Myanmar said the new law had been added as sections 311A and 311B to a section of the Penal Code that criminalises the offences of murder, robbery and kidnapping children.
The law, enacted on Tuesday, punishes killings and other offences committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part” a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – wording which follows that used in laws against genocide around the world.
Genocide offences involving killings are punishable by death while other genocide offences, such as forcibly tranfering the children of one group to another group, are punishable with life in prison, the announcement said. Perpetrators can be arrested without warrants, and the offences are non-bailable, it added.
Min Aung Hlaing is accused of being a chief architect and perpetrator of a genocidal campaign of mass murder, rape, arson and forced displacement against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2017, which led to a case being opened against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice.
Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer representing ousted leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, said there was no chance that the new law would be used to prosecute members of the military for their crimes.
“Those in power use laws as weapons to protect their own interests,” he said. “If the laws conform to their interest, they will enforce them. If not, they won’t.”
Kyi Myint, another veteran lawyer, said the regime’s move may be intended to “trick” the international community. “I think they are going to say they want to prevent those crimes from happening in future and have enacted those laws by following the ICJ’s orders.”
In January last year the ICJ ordered Myanmar to take various steps to protect the Rohingya from genocide.
Thein Oo, the justice minister of the underground National Unity Government, said he suspects the regime intends to use the new genocide law against armed resistance groups carrying out guerilla attacks against junta targets.
“People within the military are getting really scared [of the attacks].” he said. “This move is like striking out in desperation.”
“If relatives of military personnel and Pyu Saw Htee groups are attacked or massacred, the regime will accuse the offenders of committing genocidal offences,” he added, referring to military-backed groups formed to counter anti-coup activists and resistance fighters.
Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy that the junta was enacting the law because it was its duty to do so under the Genocide Convention, which Myanmar signed in 1949.
“As we are a member country, we have a responsibility to enact a law. So we have enacted a law to prevent and punish genocide,” he told the outlet.
