ICC confirms Min Aung Hlaing presidency grants no immunity from arrest warrant

Photo: International Criminal Court

Arakan Now | 17 April 2026

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has affirmed that Min Aung Hlaing’s recent maneuver to shed his military uniform and assume the civilian title of Myanmar’s president will not provide him with legal protection against a pending international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, according to DVB.

“The decision of the judges on whether or not to issue the arrest warrant is based solely on the evidence,” ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet told DVB in a Newsroom interview on April 14.

“The fact that this person’s election was announced doesn’t change the fact that an arrest warrant was requested against him. The founding treaty of the ICC, the Rome Statute, outlines that the Court applies equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity.”

A pending warrant under judicial review

The legal process against Myanmar’s military leader has been in motion since November 27, 2024, when ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for a formal arrest warrant.

Min Aung Hlaing faces allegations of criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslim community between August and December 2017.

The warrant application is currently before the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber judges, who must review the evidence to ensure it meets the necessary legal standards before formally issuing the warrant.

The ICC states that there is no set timeframe for the judges to make a decision, as it depends entirely on the specific circumstances of the case.

Enforcement and the Sword of Damocles

If ICC judges grant the arrest warrant, Min Aung Hlaing’s diplomatic and personal mobility will be severely restricted.

Because the ICC is a judicial body without its own police force, it relies on its 125 member states to execute its decisions. If Min Aung Hlaing sets foot in any of these member countries, those nations have a strict legal obligation to detain him and transfer him to The Hague.

“Once an arrest warrant is issued, it remains valid for life,” Maillet told DVB. While the ICC cannot try suspects in absentia—meaning Min Aung Hlaing must be physically present in the courtroom for a trial to begin—the threat of arrest will hang over him indefinitely.

Expanding the scope of justice

While the current ICC warrant application specifically targets the 2017 atrocities against the Rohingya, Maillet added that the Court is closely monitoring the ongoing violence in Myanmar, which has spread nationwide since the military coup on February 1, 2021.

Although Myanmar is not a state party to the Rome Statute, the ICC established jurisdiction because part of the 2017 crime of deportation occurred on the territory of Bangladesh, which is a member state.

The ICC confirmed it is actively “monitoring the situation in Myanmar following the [2021] coup,” noting that thousands more Rohingya have fled their homes due to violence and have been forced across the border into Bangladesh over the past five years.

The Office of the Prosecutor is currently assessing these recent developments to determine possible further legal steps.

In the meantime, the ICC welcomed complementary justice initiatives, such as the international arrest warrant issued for Min Aung Hlaing by a federal court in Argentina last year under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

“We welcome any initiatives that complement the work of the Court,” Maillet told DVB, emphasizing that the ICC serves as a court of last resort to fight impunity for the world’s gravest crimes.