Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday rejected allegations put forward in a genocide hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate claimed that an internal armed conflict prompted by attacks on police posts in Rakhine State had triggered a mass exodus of Rohingya, saying it did not amount to genocide.

"International justice resisted the temptation to use this legal classification because the specific intent to destroy the targeted group in whole or in part was not present," Suu Kyi told judges at the UN court.

She argued that while there may have been a disproportionate use of force against members of the Rohingya population, it was not a campaign directed at the country's Muslim minority.

"It cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the defense services in some cases in disregard of international humanitarian law, or that they did not distinguish clearly enough between fighters and civilians," Suu Kyi said.

"Surely under the circumstances genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis."

Read more: Did UN 'self-censorship' aggravate Rohingya crisis in Myanmar?

Protesters gathered outside the ICJ to protest against Suu Kyi's defense

Genocide accusations

Gambia, acting on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, had brought the case to the ICJ, arguing that it should take action "within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide" in Myanmar.

The US, Canada and the Netherlands hold the military responsible for summary executions and "clearance operations" targeting Rohingya. But Suu Kyi said that the latter formed part of a counter-terrorism strategy aimed at uprooting extremist militants.

In 2017, Myanmar witnessed the worst sectarian violence in years, with its security forces and Rohingya militants accusing each other of burning down villages and staging mass killings.

That year, more than 730,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, where many remain in squalid refugee camps.

Gambian Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou on Tuesday urged the court to "tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people."

Read more: 'I left my body there': A displaced Rohingya woman's story

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Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Darling of democracy The daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to her home country in the 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections but the government refused to honor the vote.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Military rule Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah 'The Lady' Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Michelle Yeoh. She was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Sworn in as lawmaker Decades of campaigning finally paid off and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. Since general elections in 2015 she has been the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she is the foreign minister and state counsellor under President Htin Kyaw.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Persecution of the Rohingya Rohingya are a mostly Muslim ethnic group who had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when the military began what it calls "clearance" of illegal immigrants - but what groups like Human Rights Watch have described as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Fall from grace When she became state counsellor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi has accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and that she is concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah Nobel no more? Suu Kyi has been stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi has said that outsiders do not grasp the complexities of the situation. Author: Elizabeth Schumacher



ls/stb (Reuters, AP)