lou. this is deja news live from berlin an icon of human rights now the offending her own military against charges of genocide in mars' long songs hu jia nobel peace prize winner testifies to the international court of justice in the hague she says there is no proof that her country carried out genocide against the engine prosecutors months of crew for wrong also coming up the u.k. prepares to vote in what's being called the folks in it wouldn't election in the generation forced johnson on the conservatives hope to finally get the majority they need to lead britain out of the e.u.

their lead over germany corbin's opposition labor party is narrowly. i'm calling assman welcome to the program be in mars leader aung sang suu kyi has denied that her country's troops committed genocide against pro henge of muslims she was speaking at the international court of justice in the hague responding to testimony about barbaric acts committed against the population hundreds of thousands of her enjoy now living as refugees in neighboring bangladesh afraid to return. the images that provoked international outrage more than 700000 range of muslims fled to me and amal when the military launched a crackdown in iraq lined state in august 27th team they were escaping what since been described as an ethnic cleansing campaign most of the refugees now live in

crowded camps in bangladesh. they tortured our mothers and daughters as they burned our houses they also raped me and i am grateful to god that myanmar is facing trial for that. young son sued she is decision to defend her country here at the world's highest court has galvanized her supporters. i am. i that i. but it's also surprised her critics as she was not required to attend suit she told the judges she couldn't rule out that me and mars armed forces may have used disproportionate force but she denied that any crimes committed fell under the international definition of genocide. these bear in mind this complex situation and the challenge to sovereignty and security in our country when you're

assessing the intent of those who attempted to deal with the rebellion surely under the circumstances genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis. under age 2000 in is constitution. you know my house the military justice system criminal cases against soldiers offices for possible war crimes committed in rakhine must be investigated and prosecuted by that system the lawsuit against me and ma was brought by the gambia on behalf of the organization of islamic cooperation which is made up of 57 countries suchi also criticized evidence that presented it calling it incomplete and misleading. whatever the outcome in the hague this week there will be repercussions for me and its image tarnished on the world stage could affect its future prospects. joining me now for more is mark kirsten he's

a fellow at the montréal institute for genocide and human rights studies and he's the author of a book about international criminal justice thank you for speaking with us and you've been following the proceedings in the hague closely in your opinion did prosecutors succeed in making the case that a genocide occurred. well i think it's it's too early to tell. you know it's not obvious right now. but of course it was fascinating and important to see. the international court of justice. sitting in the audience having to hear the story. of. people and. she spoke what i thought was most remarkable about today was not what she didn't say and she did not use. the context of the atrocities. perpetrated this is. someone who

did not think that genocide transpired. were identifies those people. as a group why do you think. showed up today. that it wasn't required that she make an appearance what kind of statement do you think that made her presence there . well i think it's in some ways it's a good thing that she showed up in the sense that it gives a degree of credibility to the process it's important to me and mar it and say we don't want this to happen we're not even going to show up she showed up as a former human rights icon now as many people you are as a kind of a flag bearer for atrocity against against the regime i think it sends a message that they're taking it very seriously and they very much would like to avoid a situation where the justice. of the country has perpetrated genocide

against through against. people but at the same time i don't think we should you know. speak too much into it or think that it's something that it's not her presence alone will not prevent the international court of justice or any court for that matter international tribunal or whatever it may be from finding that genocide has transpired against the religious people now briefly what happens if the court does find that a genocide a place will go to jail what are the consequences you know no one will go to jail the basis of what the international court of justice. what will happen is a. legally binding declaration. probably amount to obligations to protect the remainder people from further atrocities from further acts of genocide etc however the international criminal court is also investigating atrocities committed by the road and if me and mark ignores anything that comes out

of the international court of justice that might inspire the international criminal court to perhaps speed up its investigation and use your arrest warrants against some of those people that it deems responsible for these atrocious acts against. our coasts and a fellow at the montreal institute for genocide and human rights studies thank you very much. art here's a check now of some of the other stories making news around the world niger's defense ministry has confirmed that suspected islam missed militants killed 71 soldiers near the mali border a nighttime ambush on a military camp in the country's southwest also injured 12 troops and several more missing the so-called islamic states have long been active in the area clashes have erupted in beirut after supporters of lebanon's 2 main shiite groups tried to attack a group of anti-government demonstrators police fired tear gas to prevent supporters of hezbollah and amal from reaching the protesters the demonstrators have been

calling for the 2 group's leaders to step down. israel is heading for an unprecedented 3rd election in just 12 months on thursday the israeli parliament voted to dissolve itself after failing to form a government the country will hold new elections in march. well turning now to the u.k. where it's the eve of one of the most important general elections in decades that's because the vote on thursday could finally decide the fate of breck's it has been 3 and a half years now since the u.k. voted to leave the e.u. but the country still has not departed prime minister boris johnson is hoping a strong showing and a majority for his conservatives will let him complete his campaign pledge to quote get bracks it's done. shifts show these are the early morning images boris johnson wants a vote is to see a prime minister turn to milkman beautifully delivering to the public. thank you.

for a participant come on that good morning britain prime minister. but shortly before that johnson and his team were not so composed as the other so to come on good morning britain deliver on your promise the torch of payson says i left the land of peace johnson was caught off guard by a crew from i.t.v. is good morning britain and he took refuge from the reporters in a freezer. but equally as staged was labor leader german cope and last day on the campaign trail. and jumped at the chance to take a swipe at his main political rival was that you know this i've not come here to the bell. i. was that message all how i. cope and will be hoping his message hits home so far polls have not been looking good for labor with most betting on a conservative majority but bookies have seen a shift in recent days and colton is

a much better off of becoming prime minister however there are no clear favorites among voters. i am honest with you there's no truth there is no choice. i don't like either the main candidates have so i'm struggling. none of them tell the truth. i decide to tell the change it just gets. out for themselves and how for us that for themselves that. i will buy i will fight. so hard that i might not mind up yeah. this is largely a one issue election still some are trying to focus on other important topics the latest work by renowned street. just banksy highlights the issue of homelessness at christmas time for many of britain's poorest brags it is the least of their concerns. london where our correspondent barbara faisal is standing

by barbara campaigning now over a big election just hours away walk us through where things stand now in terms of the 2 main parties really each of these parties led by a leader who is not necessarily very popular. you know that both unpopular in their own little ways boris johnson is held as being untrustworthy by many people in britain particularly women don't like him looking at his colorful love life or looking at the many lies he sort of likes to tell so glibly without the later apologizing or putting things right he just turns around and laughs and thinks it's all a big joke and that is something that many people even though they've known this for years somehow find untrustworthy in a prime minister on the other hand jeremy corrigan is the least popular opposition

leader in a generation people think he's weak there's going to be growth about anti semitism in the labor party he's they think he's unpatriotic and they don't really trust his big social vision and his big spending plans so yes the weakness of the one is the strengths of the other and vice versa and so at the last moment boris johnson head slightly to the cold spot the race was tightening towards the very end and at the moment there is no certainty about the outcome whatsoever so no certainty about the outcome fairly unpopular leaders of these parties i mean it's also a nation the u.k. at least fed up with the brics it process has dragged on for so long how did brecht's it affect this campaign and what did parties do to reach out to voters and what were their messages. the tories of course have tried to break the red wall in the north of england as it's called the the older traditional labor

constituencies where they grew sort of force it settled in for decades and many of those have voted for bricks it with regard and then these are the ones that has particularly targeted because he thought if he goes dad tells people i'm with you i'm going to get you or breck said john people might sort of really turn to him it is not quite clear even though the mess is message has struck home in some of those traditional lay receipts and lose some of people there but it's not quite clear whether it was enough to really sway voters on the other hand the loyalty the party loyalty as in many other european countries in britain has also broken down people used to be traditionally tribal in politics and now are sort of free floating and looking around and many people here say we don't like either of them this is really quite a difficult if not to say bad choice those polls open tomorrow and voters will have

to make a choice barbara faisal in london for us thank you very much. and finally now how old is too old for a professional athlete well for one surfing legend age is proving to be nothing but a number kelly slater is now 47 years old but just take a look at him go at the pipe masters in hawaii it's one of the world's most challenging locations he turned in another vintage performance a perfect 10 point run. it makes you wonder how long you can keep doing that probably for a long time now don't forget you can always get the news on the go just download our app from google play a from the app store and that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the d w app to send us your photos and your video. you're watching the news

live from berlin coming up the most valuable company in history it's saudi oil giant aramco making a record breaking market debut that's up next in business with chris colfer don't miss that all the latest news in the meantime available all around the clock on our web site that's d.w. dot com that's wrong. susan and now look at me affectionately agent but as affectionately as you can. redeem your poor tim in the middle of his election campaign in the year 2000 the documentary was filmed for russian television if you did you turn the camera back on you tube of course the film secretly chronicled the power grab actually everything was precisely played in church. featuring top supporting roles.