Peace Prize winner and political leader Aung San Suu Kyi has dismissed the case into accusations Myanmar waged genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
Ms Suu Kyi, Myanmar's top political leader travelled to The Hague this week to head her country’s delegation in answering the allegations.
But she told the United Nation’s top court the genocide allegations were "misleading and incomplete".
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi dismissed the allegations as "incomplete and incorrect". Source: AP
"Regrettably The Gambia has placed before the court a misleading and incomplete picture of the situation in Rakhine state," Suu Kyi said of the case brought by the African state at the International Court of Justice.
Gambia, a small West African country, has launched a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, alleging it has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar's top political leader, shocked critics and galvanised supporters at home by travelling to The Hague to head her country's delegation.
Her office said she was going to "defend the national interest".
Suu Kyi listened impassively on Tuesday as lawyers for Gambia detailed graphic testimony of suffering of Rohingya at the hands of the Myanmar military.
In three days of hearings this week, judges are hearing the first phase of the case: Gambia's request for "provisional measures" - the equivalent of a restraining order against Myanmar to protect the Rohingya population until the case is heard in full.
Gambia has argued it is every country's duty under the 1948 Convention to prevent a genocide from taking place.
Demonstrators supporting Myanmar stand in front of the Peace Palace in The Hague. Source: ANP
Gambia has political support from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as several Western nations including Canada and the Netherlands.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after the military launched a crackdown in the country's western Rakhine state in August 2017. Most now live in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Myanmar argues the military "clearance operations" in Rakhine were a justifiable response to acts of terrorism, and that its soldiers have acted appropriately.
The legal threshold for a finding of genocide is high, with only three cases recognised under international law since World War II: In Cambodia in the late 1970s; In Rwanda in 1994; and at Srebrenica, Bosnia, in 1995.
Although a United Nations fact-finding mission found that "the gravest crimes under international law" had been committed in Myanmar and called for genocide trials, no court has weighed the evidence and established a genocide in Myanmar.
Rohingya women cry as they shout slogans during a protest rally to commemorate the first anniversary of Myanmar army's crackdown. Source: AAP
Asked about the possibility that Suu Kyi could flatly deny atrocities have taken place in Myanmar, Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said outside the court on Monday it would be "extremely disappointing" if she did so again.
