The soldiers who were jailed for the killing of Rohingya Muslim men and boys during a 2017 military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, were granted a presidential pardon this month after being jailed for 500 days. The crackdown led to some 740,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh. The soldiers were in prison for lesser amount of time than the Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who covered the event did.
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According to UN investigators, the violence warrants the prosecution of top generals for “genocide” and the International Criminal Court has started a preliminary probe. Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director, condemned release of the soldiers. “Their punishment was reduced by the military,” said the senior Naypyitaw official, who declined to be named.
In Myanmar the Rohingya — often referred to as “Bengali” — are widely seen as illegal immigrants The military has always justified its crackdown in 2017 as a means of rooting out Rohingya insurgents.
