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Suu Kyi trial opens to the media
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2009, Thursday
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MYANMAR'S government opened Aung San Suu Kyi's trial yesterday to reporters and diplomats, but the unexpected access did not stem criticism that the hearing is a political ploy to keep the opposition leader behind bars through next year's election.
Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man stayed at her home without official permission. She faces up to five years' imprisonment.
She is standing trial with two female members of her party who live with her, and John W. Yettaw, the American who her lawyers said swam to her lakeside home under the cover of darkness earlier this month and sneaked in uninvited.
Diplomats at the hearing said Suu Kyi appeared alert and in good spirits. She told her lawyer Nyan Win to request permission to talk to them and jokingly said she might be charged under a security law if she did so without consent.
Diplomats said the trial is a "sham."
"I think this is a story where the conclusion is already scripted I'm afraid," British Ambassador Mark Canning told the BBC. "No, I don't have any confidence in the outcome."
Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man stayed at her home without official permission. She faces up to five years' imprisonment.
She is standing trial with two female members of her party who live with her, and John W. Yettaw, the American who her lawyers said swam to her lakeside home under the cover of darkness earlier this month and sneaked in uninvited.
Diplomats at the hearing said Suu Kyi appeared alert and in good spirits. She told her lawyer Nyan Win to request permission to talk to them and jokingly said she might be charged under a security law if she did so without consent.
Diplomats said the trial is a "sham."
"I think this is a story where the conclusion is already scripted I'm afraid," British Ambassador Mark Canning told the BBC. "No, I don't have any confidence in the outcome."
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