The Myanmar government on Tuesday rejected [press release] the findings of a UN investigative panel that the country’s military may have engaged in genocide and other human rights abuses during last year’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslim minorities, characterizing the findings of the report as “false allegations.”

The statement, which was issued by government spokespeson Zaw Htay, was published in a state-owned newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar [materials] a day after a report [PDF] by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urged [JURIST report] the government to investigate and prosecute some of the country’s top military leaders for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Htay vigorously denied the accusations, stating, “[o]ur stance is clear and I want to say sharply that we don’t accept any resolutions conducted by the Human Rights Council. … We didn’t allow the [fact finding mission] to enter into Myanmar, that’s why we don’t agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council.”

Htay further added that Myanmar has “zero tolerance to any human rights violation,” announcing that the government has formed an “Independent Commission of Enquiry [in] response to false allegations made by the UN Agencies and other international communities.”