Myanmar’s lawyers continue to respond in Gambia-Myanmar case

THE oral hearings in The Gambia–Myanmar case are taking place from 12 to 29 Jan­uary at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands. Myanmar deliv­ered its first oral arguments from 10 am to 6 pm local time on 19 January, with its lead counsel, Mr Christopher Stak­er, and counsel, Mr Sam-Bloom Cooper and Ms Leigh Lawrie, presenting the case.

Myanmar’s lawyers re­sponded to The Gambia’s alle­gations, with Mr Stefan Talm­on addressing The Gambia’s claim on alleged hate speech and propaganda, and Ms Alina Miron responding to allegation concerning the violation of the obligation to punish and de­struction of evidence.

Myanmar’s lawyer Sam- Bloom Cooper responded that genocide has not been estab­lished and dismissed the alle­gations of failure to meet the burden of proof, while Mr Ste­fan Talmon responded to The Gambia’s allegations concern­ing alleged legal consequenc­es. (The counterarguments of Myanmar’s counsels are ex­cerpted separately.) — MNA/ GNLM