In 2012, in the midst of a genocidal assault which forced thousands of Rohingya to flee for their lives, Aung San Suu Kyi was belatedly accepting the Nobel Peace Prize awarded her in 1991. She then traveled to several other countries to be feted as a champion of human rights & to pick up bushel baskets of human rights awards. On the rare occasions when a journalist would ask her about the Rohingya, she was allowed to dodge the question.

What a contrast to 2019 when with colossal arrogance she will stand before an international tribunal to deny the genocide which is irrefutably documented, including by satellite imagery. Last week, 48 Burmese Karen groups released a joint statement of support for the Rohingya genocide case because they have suffered for decades from the systematic human rights crimes of the military. On Monday, 17 Burmese Shan organizations released a similar statement of support & urged the international community to impose economic sanctions. Before she was elected president, Suu Kyi publicly acknowledged the human rights crimes of the military, including the use of mass rape as a weapon of repression & persecution.

Who can understand the motives of Suu Kyi in rejecting her false image as a human rights champion to become the face of genocide? She won’t be allowed to dodge the questions this time but she most likely will elude justice since the lawsuit will take years to adjudicate. But history will remember her in the same league as Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Trump.

Photo is a beleaguered looking Suu Kyi & the legal team for the military preparing to board a flight from Burma to the Netherlands.

(Photo from AFP via Getty Images)