Suu Kyi trial resumes
Riot police surrounded Burma’s main prison today as the trial of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi resumed.
The resumption came a week after the ruling generals blocked efforts by the United Nations chief to save Ms Suu Kyi from a possible five-year prison term.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harbouring an American man who swam secretly to her lakeside home and stayed for two days.
Khin Moe Moe, a lawyer and a member of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, was due to appear as a defence witness during today’s session, which a Burma official said restarted inside Rangoon’s Insein prison where Ms Suu Kyi is being held.
The trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and Ms Suu Kyi’s local supporters, who worry the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through elections planned for next year.
Ms Suu Kyi has been in detention for nearly 14 of the last 20 years, mostly at her Rangoon residence.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, on an official visit to Burma last Friday and Saturday, failed to gain Ms Suu Kyi’s release or even visit her in prison.
Mr Ban said Burma’s junta chief, Senior Gen Than Shwe, told him repeatedly that “he really wanted to agree to my request” to see her but because Ms Suu Kyi was on trial he did not want to be seen as interfering with the judicial process - or being pressured by the outside world.
“I am deeply disappointed that they have missed a very important opportunity,” Mr Ban said last weekend.
Also being tried on the same charges are two women members of Ms Suu Kyi’s party, who were her sole companions while under house arrest. The American, John Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, is charged with trespassing.
The mostly closed-door trial started on May 18. The court at first allowed only one of four defence witnesses to take the stand, while approving 23 prosecution witnesses, of whom 14 took the stand, according to Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyers.
On appeal, the Rangoon Divisional Court ruled that Khin Moe Moe also could be heard but maintained the disqualification of prominent journalist and former political prisoner Win Tin and party vice chairman Tin Oo, who is under house arrest.
Security around Insein prison was tight as usual with roads leading to the prison blocked with barbed wire barricades manned by police. Truckloads of riot police were also deployed around the prison facility.
About 100 Suu Kyi supporters gathered, as they have during earlier court sessions, to give her support, sitting and standing as close as they could to the prison gates.
The defence has not contested the basic facts of the case but argues the relevant law has been misapplied by the authorities. They also assert that any intrusion was the responsibility of the security forces guarding the house.
Mr Yettaw has pleaded not guilty and explained in court that he had a dream that Ms Suu Kyi would be assassinated and he had gone to warn her. Family and friends have said he was working on a book and wished to interview her.
