CHRONOLOGY: Aung San Suu Kyi - Myanmar's symbol of democracy

May 14, 2009, 12:05 GMT

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been resisting the country's military junta for decades. The 63-year-old leader of the National League for Democracy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been under house arrest for most of the past 19 years.

Following is a chronology of some key events:

August 26, 1988: The daughter of Myanmar's national independence hero Aung San returns home and leads a non-violent protest against the military, which has ruled the country, also known as Burma, since 1962.

The pro-democracy uprising is violently crushed and Aung San Suu Kyi is put under house arrest for the first time on July 20, 1989.

May 27, 1990: Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a landslide victory in Myanmar's general election. The military junta does not recognize the results.

October 14, 1991: Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent resistance against the military.

July 10, 1995: House arrest is lifted until 2000

May 6, 2002: After renewed release from house arrest Suu Kyi is welcomed triumphantly by the Myanmar people as she travels the country. After unidentified assassins attack her convoy and kill several NLD supporters, she is taken into so-called protective custody by the military on May 31, 2003.

September 2003: After a hunger strike, Suu Kyi's imprisonment is converted into a limited house arrest, which has been extended several times by the military rulers, despite international protests. The last 1-year extension was handed down in May 2008.

September 20, 2007: In Yangon and other parts of the country protests against the military regime erupt. According to opposition figures, at least 200 people are killed in the crackdown on protestors.

February 9, 2008: The junta announces a constitutional referendum and general elections for 2010. Suu Kyi is banned from competing because of her marriage to a foreigner, who has meanwhile deceased.

May 10, 2008: While hundreds of thousands of victims of cyclone Nargis fight for their survival, the junta holds the controversial referendum, which results in a 92-per-cent approval of the new constitution, which cements the military's rule.

May 6, 2009: A US national is arrested after he spent several days in Suu Kyi's Yangon compound, having swum across a lake to gain access. Suu Kyi told police the man had 'entered illegally.'

May 14, 2004: Following the incident, the military rulers move Suu Kyi to Yangon's notorious Insein prison.