Myanmar junta allows only one witness for Aung San Suu Kyi defence

May 28, 2009, 8:53 GMT

   Yangon - Attorneys for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday were allowed to present only one witness in what has been dubbed a 'show trial' of the democracy icon.

   Kyi Win, an advocate for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was the lone witness permitted to testify in her defence against charges of breaking the terms of her detention at her lakeside home, said Nyan Win, one of her lawyers.

   A special court set up in Yangon's Insein Prison rejected three other defence witnesses Wednesday.

   'There were 14 witnesses for the prosecutors and just one witness for defenders. Think that it is fair?' Nyan Win asked.

   He said the final court session was to be held Monday when prosecutors and the defence are to present their arguments to the two presiding judges.

   It is not known when the verdict would be handed down, but most political observers predicted Suu Kyi would be found guilty because Myanmar's military rulers do not want the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient free during the lead-up to a general election scheduled next year.

   Many Western leaders have already condemned the case, including US President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday criticized it as a 'show trial based on spurious charges.'

   Suu Kyi, her two household aides and US national John William Yettaw stand accused of breaking Suu Kyi's terms of house arrest by permitting Yettaw to swim to her home-cum-prison on Yangon's Inya Lake on May 3 and remain there until midnight on May 5.

   Wednesday marked the sixth anniversary of Suu Kyi's arrest on May 27, 2003, when she was charged with undermining national security for campaigning in central Myanmar.

   Yettaw testified that he had come to Suu Kyi's house to warn her of an assassination attempt he had dreamed of.   Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. If found guilty of the new charge, she faces a minimum of three and a maximum of five years in jail.

   Meanwhile, a retired air force captain was arrested in Yangon Thursday for protesting Suu Kyi's trial. Zaw Nyunt, 53, was detained at Insein market near the prison while carrying a sign saying, 'Saving Suu is Saving Burma,' witnesses said.

   Suu Kyi's trial has been widely criticized by the international community and even some of Myanmar's close allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations who have raised concerns that the frail pro-democracy leader might face five more years of imprisonment, perhaps in Insein Prison, which is notorious for harsh treatment of inmates.

   Myanmar's junta has rejected the criticism as interference in its internal affairs.

   At a meeting of European and South-East Asian foreign ministers in Phnom Penh Thursday, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win said Suu Kyi's trial was an internal legal matter and 'international interference' threatened Myanmar's sovereignty.

   'We understand that the international community has taken a great amount of interest in this trial, but in doing so, it has overlooked the important issue of non-interference,' he said. 'This is an internal legal issue, and it is not a human rights issue.'

   'The case of one person should not overshadow the process of democratization in Myanmar,' he said in an apparent reference to the election planned next year. 'This process in now entering its most important stage.'

   Few expect the election to bring democracy to Myanmar, a country that has been under military rule since 1962.

   A constitution pushed though by the junta last year assured that the generals would control the senate, which would be able to overturn any legislation deemed unfavourable to them.