Myanmar expels Timor-Leste’s representative over war crimes probe
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Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing attending a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia, on March 4, 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
YANGON - Myanmar’s junta on Feb 15 announced the ejection of Timor-Leste’s top representative in the country, after a rights group said Dili had opened a legal case against the military for war crimes.
The military – which snatched power in a 2021 coup – has for decades been accused of rights abuses, mostly targeting the nation’s ethnic minorities.
Myanmar is currently defending itself from prosecution at the International Court of Justice over allegations of genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
But the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said in February that Timor-Leste has opened its own case against the junta for both war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The CHRO – which represents Myanmar’s Chin ethnic minority – said “a senior Timorese prosecutor has been appointed to look into the criminal file” presented by the organisation.
A junta statement said Dili’s reported appointment of a prosecutor to probe the case was a “great disappointment”.
It said Timor-Leste’s charge d’affaires had been summoned on Feb 13 and was given a week to leave Myanmar.
According to the CHRO, its case against the junta includes “irrefutable evidence” of gang rape, a massacre of 10 people, the slaughter of religious officials, and a hospital air strike.
The organisation entered the complaint under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to try international offences.
The case – and increasing diplomatic tension – pits two countries in ASEAN against each other.
Timor-Leste joined the bloc only in October 2025,
The junta statement accused Timor-Leste of violating ASEAN charter articles that “underscore the importance of upholding respect for sovereignty and non-interference”.
The junta previously expelled Timor-Leste’s top diplomat in August 2023, over a meeting that his government held with a banned shadow administration founded in the aftermath of the coup. AFP
