Yangon, Jan 21 (TIWN) Myanmar President Win Myint on Tuesday promised criminal investigations and possible prosecutions of those who committed war crimes in Rakhine state, following recommendations of the Independent Commission of Enquiry.

An inquiry set up by the government of Myanmar to investigate the 2017 crackdown that prompted hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee the country is expected to report this month, but activists and independent observers are sceptical about the story it will tell, despite promises of accountability from the country's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Accountability through domestic criminal justice is the norm," State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said last month when she took the stand at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend the country against charges of genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

"Only if domestic accountability fails, may international justice come into play."