Rohingya leaders condemn 'liar' Aung San Suu Kyi after she denies Myanmar genocide

Rohingya refugees have accused Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of lying after she appeared at the International Court of Justice and denied that her country's armed forces are guilty of genocide against the Muslim minority group.

Suu Kyi, whose fall from grace as a pro-Democratic Nobel Peace Prize recipient to being "complicit" in a genocide has been well documented.

She told the court that the mass exodus of over one third of the Rohingya community to neighboring Bangladesh is not the result of a systematic purge but rather the unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents.

Rohingya leaders have condemned Suu Kyi's comments at the ICC, including Mohammed Mohibullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights.

"The world will judge their claim of no genocide with evidence," he said.

"A thief never admits he is a thief, but justice can be delivered through evidence. The world has obtained evidence from us," he said at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar district.

"Even if Suu Kyi lies, she won’t be spared. She will certainly face justice. The world should take steps against her."

Nur Kamal, a refugee at Kutupalong, also rejected Suu Kyi's testimony.

"The military cordoned off people and killed them by opening fire, setting them ablaze – isn’t this genocide? Will this be justified if Suu Kyi says so?" he told AP.

The world will not accept that. The whole world has seen the level of torture of us. It is still going on.

Their comments come after the small West Africa country of The Gambia launched a case against Myanmar.

Its legal team, acting on behalf of the 57-country Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to take "all measures within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide".

The Gambia allege that genocide is still being committed against the Rohingya in the Buddhist-majority country.

Suu Kyi appeared in court as part of a three-day hearing and accused Gambia of providing a misleading and incomplete account of events that occurred in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017.

Ironically, Suu Kyi defended the same military that put her under house arrest for 15 years.

Earlier this year, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar said rapes of Rohingya by Myanmar's security forces were systemic and demonstrated the intent to commit genocide.

It said in a report the discrimination that Myanmar practiced against the Rohingya in peacetime aggravated the sexual violence toward them during times of conflict.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed an agreement to start repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, but two attempts failed when no one came forward to return voluntarily, citing continuing security concerns in Myanmar.