By 
20-02-2026 , Roberta Moisuc, Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
Timor-Leste has initiated legal proceedings against Myanmar’s military junta, invoking universal jurisdiction to pursue war crimes and crimes against humanity. The case filed by the Chin Human Rights Organisation accuses ten senior officials, including commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, over the crimes of killing, rape, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
On February 2nd, 2026, Timor-Leste, one of the newest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), opened legal proceedings against Myanmar’s military junta for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The case was filed by the Chin Human Rights Organisation in January 2026, and it accuses ten members of the military junta, including Commander-in-Chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, of killings, rape, indiscriminate attacks, and other grave crimes. The case was filed under the international law principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to investigate and prosecute grave international crimes regardless of the territory where the acts were committed or the nationality of the victims and suspects.
A senior Timorese prosecutor has been appointed to be in charge of examining the criminal file presented by the Chin Human Rights Organisation. The case presented includes evidence of several crimes committed by the military junta. The evidence file includes the gang rape of a seven-month pregnant woman; the massacre of ten people, including a journalist and a 13-year-old boy; the deliberate killing of a Christian Pastor and three Deacons; a disproportionate and indiscriminate aerial attack on a hospital, which killed four medical staff and four patients, and a series of attacks on Christian churches and civilian infrastructure protected under international law.
Timor-Leste is the newest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), joining the regional bloc in October 2025, marking the bloc’s first new member in over 25 years. President Jose Ramos-Horta has made public statements that his government supports the people of Myanmar’s struggle to end military abuses. The state’s justice efforts send a powerful message of regional solidarity for the victims of the civil war. They can be seen as a step forward towards ending human rights violations in Myanmar and holding the perpetrators internationally accountable.
