Detained drug suspects released after paying millions - Naw Kham

By Hseng Khio Fah

Shanland - The chase launched on “Druglord” Naw Kham by the Burma Army following the shootings at a Chinese cargo ship on the Mekong on 18 February had resulted in the massive arrest of suspects including businessmen, but most of them were released after paying millions, according to reliable sources.

Over 20 people suspected of connection with Naw Kham who has been active in the Golden Triangle area, where Burma’s Shan State, Laos and Thailand meet, were detained by the Burma Army during the operation.

Among these were Ko Thiha, from Wan Hwe Waw Khoke, Kengphawng village tract, and Ko Maung Tint from Quarter #3 of Namkhet, Kengtung township, eastern Shan State.

Maung Tint was a former soldier in the Burma Army’s signal battalion. He has been reportedly dealing in drugs and arms together with Naw Kham with the help of local authorities in Tachilek since his retirement.

Naw Kham

“Almost all of the Naw Kham’s dealers know about of the relationship between the junta authorities and Naw Kham,” said a businessman who was also involved in the drug trade. “The area commanders and local authorities are receiving kickbacks from Naw Kham.”

Maung Tint was reported to have disclosed in detail of Naw Kham’s relationships with the authorities to the police during the interrogations.

Their disclosures had led to the police releasing them after paying Kyat 20 million (US$ 20,000) each, said the source.

To date, even though Naw Kham has been under “hot pursuit” by the Burmese forces since 18 February, he still remains free. In addition, his cross border drug dealings have also recovered.

Naw Kham, a former officer in the late Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army (MTA), surrendered with his boss to become a militia leader in Tachilek in 1996. Ten years later, he went underground, following a raid that resulted in seizure of a large amount of arms and drugs.

READ MORE---> Detained drug suspects released after paying millions - Naw Kham...

Junta training militias in another name

By Khun Aung Kham

Shanland - Local authorities in Mong Ko village tract, Tachilek Township, Eastern Shan State, opposite Maesai, are ordering villagers to serve either in the fire brigade or in the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), but were actually giving militia training to those who choose to join fire brigades, according to sources from border.

“The chairman of our village track said the order came from above. One person per house has to join either the fire brigade or USDA. Now they are giving training in the football field of Mong Ko village tract,” said a 40 year old woman.

The first batch of about 50 villagers has been trained and they are now training the second batch, according to local villagers.

The formation of villagers into fire fighters or USDA members is a new strategy in order to secure more support for their election, said Kya Bolong, Chairman of LaHu Democratic Union (LDU).

“They are persuading people by giving them incentives such as issuing Identity cards at cheap price if they join the USDA. Because most of the villagers have no ID cards, many are interested in joining it,” he added.

There are 56 villages in Mong Ko village tract, and most of villagers are Shan and Lahu. The area of Mong Ko tract stretches from the outskirts of Tachilek Township to the outskirts of Talerh Township, 29 miles farther north.

Similarly, people in Nam Kham Township, Northern Shan State, are undergoing militia trainings after being told to join fine brigades. So far, Junta authorities have completed three batches.

READ MORE---> Junta training militias in another name...

Junta orders planting Physic Nut in northern Burma

KNG - Early this week, the Burmese military junta released a new order to resume regular Physic Nut (Jet Suu in Burmese) plantation activities in Myitkyina, the capital of the country's northern Kachin State, said local sources.

Residents in each quarter in Myitkyina have been told to plant Physic Nut saplings in the spaces on the left and right, along the roadside in two areas--- the road between Maw Hpawng village-Myitkyina downtown and Tatkone quarter-Balaminhtin Irrawaddy River Bridge. The orders came from the quarters' administrative offices (Ya Ya Ka).

Under a rotation system, civilians from each quarter have been ordered to grow the saplings in the given areas. Both civilians and government personnel have been directed to grow the saplings, said residents of Myitkyina.

Yesterday, two residents from each sub-area in Tatkone were ordered to go with iron crowbars to the planting areas on the roadside towards Balaminhtin Irrawaddy River Bridge from Tatkone by the quarter administrative office, said residents.

Again, 15 sub-areas in the quarters between Maw Hpawng and Myitkyina downtown have been ordered to send two-inch long 100 stems of Physic Nut each to their quarters' administrative offices by 5 p.m. Burma Standard Time today, according to residents of these quarters.

The local military authorities use civilians as forced labour for Physic Nut planting but they avoid planting saplings with too many people for fear of media attention, said local people.

In Kachin State, the Physic Nut or also called Jatropha Curcas has to be grown in the whole state under the government project in the entire country. Most Physic Nut trees are planted alongside main roads, public places, football grounds and in front of government buildings in Kachin State, said locals.

At the same time, children and some adults are often hospitalized with vomiting caused by eating the poisonous fruits of Physic Nut but the military authorities are yet to put a single 'warning poster' in front of the plantations in public places, complained local residents.

The Physic Nut or also called Castor Oil Plant locally bears fruits in three years after planting. The junta has ordered to grow Physic Nut in 500,000 acres in Kachin State.

The junta claims to produce bio-fuel or diesel from Physic Nut but there is no market to sell the Physic Nut fruits in Kachin State till now, said local people.

READ MORE---> Junta orders planting Physic Nut in northern Burma...

Transforming of ethnic armed groups by Burmese junta

by Zai Dai

KNG - Isn’t the junta's pressure on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) to transform it to the regime’s Border Security Force seemingly a harsh violation of the principle of Federal Democracy ostensibly to be launched once again in Burma?

It is regrettable that the junta has pressurized KIA to transform to its Border Security Force seven months before the 2010 election in Burma. The KIA must do it within a very limited time as ordered by the Northern Commander Brig-Gen Soe Win in late April. It is crucial to scrutinize as citizens of Kachinland (Kachin State) and Burma whether there is truth behind such treatment. The regime might misuse the process of declaring globally that it has been initiating the resuscitation of Federal Democracy and will revitalize the country very soon. The Federal Democratic Union is the aspiration of all the citizens of the country.

Yet, history has been subverted as seen across the globe or in the nature of the dictatorship uprooting the original bond of political stance up to the present. On the one hand, an action of maneuvering could lead one's country into constant destitution and on the other hand a single submission of the victims toward their despotism could re-strengthen a certain and constant neo-slavery system in the country. Is it the right time for one and all being citizens of this soil to adjudicate why and how the junta threatens the KIA and other armed groups to surrender?

The regime's plot manifested itself towards KIA as its target and international communities in general in a way that the regime has officially declared its devoted principle of military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, certain assumptions could be possible that the regime has really informed the armed group from its heart despite positive engagement by the KIA for being constantly loyal and supportive towards the regime. Thus, it could be noteworthy to critically analyze the plot of the regime from the very angle that it could be a certain Constructive Logic of the regime's pressurizing the KIA.

Of course, the regime's pressure on ceasefire groups in particular on the KIA has not been a new chapter. Its natural or rather unwise strategy has been to disarm it since the very agreement. Yet, unfortunately, no constructive appeal or interference has been made from any democratic big brother, father and grandfather nations/communities so far from outside even though it is a very critical plot for the security and peaceful survival of tribes/minorities in Burma.

Such a norm of humanitarian jurisdiction is being adjudicated in the better implication of democratic enterprises side by side. In a way what is needed is democratic value as a safeguard/shield towards the marginalized, deprived, the oppressed, and the victims who are badly alienated from the state under the military's yoke. Having persecuted non-Burmese minorities from the time of Takhin Kodaw Hmiang, General Ne Win, U Nu and currently the regime and particularly towards KIA and Kachin people and other armed groups and minorities, it clearly reminds one of euthanasia.

The regime has been making the constitution referendum, election of 2010 and so on in its own way without the consent of the people in Burma. Even now, the plot towards the KIA has come without any prior principle engagement and any consensus as practiced by despots like General Ne Win who ordered gunning down pro-democratic innocent citizen demonstrators in 1988. Just like outdated colonizers of the past, the regime is still practicing discrimination toward the minorities of the country by its merciless military might.

As a matter of fact certain crucial assumptions would be precipitated that the regime may have engaged one way or the other with both inner alliances, its sympathizers and Chinese smugglers who are cunning parasites of the regime. This is just for the sake of business in order to extract and rob resources from the country for China that dehumanizes and re-colonizes the citizens and the land of Burma.

It seems that the Chinese would be dominating the country as long as the regime exists by supplying outdated arms, ammunitions and fighters to be used in civil war or rather to uproot and wipe out insurgencies in Burma.

On the one hand, the regime could be an interim government through the election into a full fledged Federal Democratic Union. It could be possible that the regime would initiate this since it wants KIA to be absolutely transformed into Border Security Force (BSF) which we can see only in fully democratic countries like USA, India and so on.

First, BSF seems to be formed not for civil defense but for the defense against enemies outside the country. Having the longest border with China, BSF seems to be needed for the special purpose of security against foreign enemies. Is there any hint that China could become the regime's enemy?

Second, supposing the regime seems to be in the process of wiping out KIA prior to the Kachins. Then, why are the Kachins and minorities committed towards the principles of Federal Democratic Union established with the basic policy of ethnic cleansing campaign of the Burmese regime? By no means is the regime itself on the right track as the Federal Union has been established with its norm and principle.

Third, then it could be possible that the regime has decided to maintain Buddhism as the religion and policy in the military based democratic country regardless of the negligence of the vow of democratic principle. Rather should the regime make a mutual-engagement with Chinese instead?

As result, the coming election would by no means be conducted in an undemocratic manner or under the supervision and safeguard of the Chinese government. In this process, the strong alliance of the regime with China is leading Burma to a position of one of the strongest allies of China to subvert the social-economic-political domination of the west and Europe.

As analyzed the tendency of the new state to conceive such a terrible alliance against norms of democracy, against the denial of peaceful survival of its own citizens, the regime has perpetuated an alliance with China. The regime has failed to solve the political chaos in Burma between Burmese groups and minorities on the principle of democratic value and tools. The regime has chosen and created a path of uncertainty, danger and more insecurity for future generations of the country.

As a matter of fact, being citizens of Burma it is the right time to focus on the regime’s plot on the KIA, making a new enemy of its own citizens, neglecting the humanitarian crisis of Burma prevailing among minority and armed groups created by the regime by way of mercy killing since 1962. There is need to create a country which is a friend of its own citizens and nations all over the globe.

READ MORE---> Transforming of ethnic armed groups by Burmese junta...

Bangladesh to Bring Maritime Dispute with Burma and India to UN

By Takaloo, Dhaka (Narinjara): Bangladesh is planning to seek a UN settlement for its maritime demarcations with Burma and India in the Bay of Bengal as the two neighbors have challenged Bangladesh's attempts at hydrocarbon exploration with overlapping charges.

"We are taking preparations to put forward our objection at the UN by June to Myanmar's claim and by November to India's claim in the Bay of Bengal," an official involved in the process told the News Age newspaper on Monday.

The report came after Burma and India both recently opposed Bangladesh's offshore block bidding for exploration of oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh has also objected to Burma's test drilling in the sea adjacent to its territory, raising tensions between the two neighbors over the maritime demarcations in November 2008.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by July 27, 2011, India must demarcate by June 29, 2009, and Burma by May 21, 2009.

Officials said that Burma submitted its claim for the maritime delimitation to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a UN body established to deal with the law of the sea, in December 2008, while India was set to submit its own claim last Monday.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will also leave for Burma for a three-day meeting scheduled for 15 - 17 May with discussion on the maritime boundary issue at the top of the agenda.

READ MORE---> Bangladesh to Bring Maritime Dispute with Burma and India to UN...

Suu Kyi and US citizen charged

(DVB)–Charges have been brought against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi relating to her contact with the US citizen who last week spent two nights in her compound, where she is being held under house arrest.

According to Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, the official court trial will take place on 18 May, after Kyi Win has applied for the right for a formal legal defence.

The charge falls under Article 22 of the Burmese penal code, which bars her from contact with foreign diplomats and political organisations, and contact with any outsiders without permission.

Article 22 carries a sentence of between three and five years.

The US citizen John William Yettaw, along with Suu Kyi’s two caretakers, has been charged under Article 22/109, relating to aiding and abetting the breaking of Article 22.

All four remain at Rangoon’s Insein prison, where the trial is being held.

Lawyer Kyi Win said that a member of the Special Branch police unit, Police Colonel Zaw Min Aung, brought the charges against both parties, while two judges and a jury will form the special court in which the trial will take place.

Last Wednesday, Yettaw was arrested after swimming across Lake Inya in Rangoon, apparently after having spent two nights in Suu Kyi’s compound.

Under conditions of her house arrest, Suu Kyi is forbidden to have visitors. A broader Burmese law states that no foreigner is allowed to spend the night at a local’s house.

US embassy staff held a brief meeting with John Yettaw yesterday, but no details were given as to his motives.

“We weren’t able to get any details from him about the circumstances – there were other people in the room – and so they didn’t talk about anything in great detail,” said Richard Mei.

Suu Kyi’s doctor, Tin Myo Win, was detained the day after Yettaw was arrested. There has been no news of his situation.

Suu Kyi’s current internment under house arrest is due to expire on 27 May, as stated by the Burmese government.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw and Francis Wade

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi and US citizen charged...

Govts, Exiles Call for Suu Kyi's Release

By THE IRRAWADDY

The British prime minister, the Australian government and its opposition party joined the chorus of calls from Burmese activist groups around the world on Thursday for the immediate release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I am deeply disturbed that Aung San Suu Kyi may be charged with breaching the terms of her detention,” said British premier Gordon Brown on Thursday. “The Burmese regime is clearly intent on finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend her unlawful detention.”

Earlier, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith had addressed Australia’s parliament. "It is Australia's longstanding position—shared by governments of both political persuasions—that she [Suu Kyi] should be released immediately and unconditionally and I repeat that today,” he said.

According to the Australian press, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop told parliament that the Burmese military junta had ignored the will of the majority of its people.

"The world must engage in greater levels of diplomacy and other actions to ensure Aung San Suu Kyi is free, and that freedom and democracy is returned to the people of Burma," she said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, in Rangoon, Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD, released a press statement saying that Suu Kyi was “devout in her search of national reconciliation and was the one person who could effect political reform through dialogue and compromise.”

Suu Kyi was charged with breaching the conditions of her house arrest relating to an incident last week when an American man— John William Yettaw, 54, from Missouri—swam across Inya Lake and entered her house.

Suu Kyi, 63, has spent over 13 of the past 20 years in detention for leading the pro-democracy movement in Burma. Her latest term under house arrest is due to expire at the end of this month and opposition activists say the junta is looking for a legal pretext to keep her detained.

“We unequivocally condemn this attempt by the junta to cloak its continued detention of Suu Kyi in a veil of legitimacy,” Jared Genser, her US-based legal counsel, said on Thursday before the court hearing.

On March, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that they found Suu Kyi's current detention violates international and Burmese law.

The Washington-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma— which describes itself as the country's government-in-exile—also condemned the NLD leader’s arrest. The group's prime minister, Dr Sein Win, who is a cousin of Suu Kyi, said, "It is nothing more than a political ploy to hoodwink the international community so that they can keep Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under lock and key while the military maneuvers its way to election victory in 2010."

Meanwhile, a London-based advocacy group, Burma Campaign UK, called for an intense diplomatic effort to secure the release of Suu Kyi after she was taken into custody from her lakeside home on Thursday morning to a guest house inside the compound of Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison.

“The United Nations and Asean must dispatch envoys to Burma to demand the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burma’s political prisoners,” said Zoya Phan, the international coordinator at Burma Campaign UK, adding that she also called on the British government, the EU and the US to use their influence to ensure the UN sends an envoy to Burma.

“Burma’s generals will use any excuse to keep Aung San Suu Kyi detained. If strong action isn’t taken, Aung San Suu Kyi could face the rest of her life in jail,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

Suu Kyi was recently reportedly to be suffering from low blood pressure and dehydration, and had difficulty eating. Her health reportedly improved this week after a visit from a doctor who administered an intravenous drip. However, the NLD has called for her to receive regular medical checkups.

The US State Department and the EU also voiced their concerns over the health of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

READ MORE---> Govts, Exiles Call for Suu Kyi's Release...

Australia calls for release of Suu Kyi

By Sandra O'Malley

SMH - Australia has called for the immediate release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after Burmese authorities sent her to prison over an unauthorised visit by an American.

The 63-year-old, who has lately been in poor health, has been under house arrest for the past two decades.

She was sent to the notorious Insein prison on Thursday after being charged over an incident in which an American man swam across a lake to visit her house.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed grave concern over the latest chapter in Ms Suu Kyi's incarceration.

"It is Australia's longstanding position - shared by governments of both political persuasions - that she should be released immediately and unconditionally and I repeat that today," he told parliament.

Ms Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 19 years detained in virtual isolation in her crumbling compound since the Burmese military junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop told parliament the military junta had ignored the will of the majority of Burmese people.

Ms Bishop travelled to Burma in 1995 and met Ms Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi said at the time that she was "a prisoner in her own country".

She said it seemed "the Burmese regime is determined to make that a reality".

The junta was "unparalleled" for its human rights abuses against Burmese people.

"The world must engage in greater levels of diplomacy and other actions to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is freed and that freedom and democracy is returned to the people of Burma," Ms Bishop said.

READ MORE---> Australia calls for release of Suu Kyi...

Charges against Suu Kyi 'troubling:' US

The Age - The US State Department expressed concern after Burma's military junta detained and charged pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi with breaching the terms of her house arrest.

"We have seen this report, which is certainly troubling if true," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said about Suu Kyi's expected trial on Monday to face the charges, which carry a maximum jail term of five years.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "has seen it as well, and has asked the Department to work to get more information", added Kelly.

The charges would stretch the 63-year-old's detention past its supposed expiry date this month and through elections that are due in 2010.

US national John Yettaw was detained last week after swimming across a lake and hiding inside Suu Kyi's off-limits home for two days.

He was also charged with violating the security law and immigration conditions, according to Hla Myo Myint, one of the democracy activist's lawyers.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday he is "deeply disturbed" by the arrest.

"The Burmese regime is clearly intent on finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend her unlawful detention," he said in a statement issued by his Downing Street office.

"I am deeply disturbed that Aung San Suu Kyi may be charged with breaching the terms of her detention," he added.

But he said: "The real injustice, the real illegality, is that she is still detained in the first place. If the 2010 elections are to have any semblance of credibility, she and all political prisoners must be freed to participate.

"Only then will Burma be set on the road to real democracy, stability and prosperity," he added.

The European Union's special envoy Piero Fassino said there is "no justification" for the new charges.

"There is no justification" for the decision to charge her with breaching the terms of her house arrest, he told Italy's Channel 5 television.

Fassino said the international community should use "every possible means to press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi" as well as "the 2,000 other political prisoners who are held in Burmese jails", he added.

The Italian envoy said that Europe should work with the United States and Asian countries to "make the Burmese junta understand that its oppressive and dictatorial policy is unacceptable for the international community".

READ MORE---> Charges against Suu Kyi 'troubling:' US...

Burma: Free Aung San Suu Kyi

Pressure From ASEAN, China, and India Needed

(HRW-New York) - All of Burma's international trade and aid partners should strongly condemn the renewed imprisonment of the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the notorious Insein Prison, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the UN secretary-general, members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, and India in particular to press the authorities for her immediate, unconditional release.

"Burma's military authorities have taken advantage of an intruder's bizarre stunt to throw Aung San Suu Kyi into one of Burma's most notorious and squalid jails on trumped-up charges," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "China and India, as Burma's main supporters, and ASEAN should condemn this injustice and use their leverage to push hard for her freedom."

New, spurious charges that she violated her house arrest relate to the unwanted intrusion into Aung San Suu Kyi's home on May 3-5, 2009, by John William Yettaw, an American who allegedly swam across Inya Lake in Rangoon to visit her.

On May 14, Special Branch police arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and her two live-in party supporters and domestic workers, Daw Khin Khin Win, and her daughter, Win Ma Ma, at Aung San Suu Kyi's home in Rangoon, and transferred the three to Insein Prison. Authorities charged them under Section 22 of the State Protection Act, which states, "any person against whom action is taken, who opposes, resists, or disobeys any order passed under this Law shall be liable to imprisonment for a period of from three years up to five years, or to a fine of up to 5,000 Kyats, or to both." The trial is set for May 18.

Burmese authorities have held Yettaw since his arrest on May 6. A US embassy official visited him on May 13. He was charged today under the same provision as Aung San Suu Kyi.

Human Rights Watch called on ASEAN member states, China, and India to put pressure on Burma's rulers to free Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and unconditionally, as well as more than 2,100 other political prisoners.

Burma's military government has announced elections for 2010, as the next step in their "road map to democracy," a sham political process that has dragged on for more than 15 years. Most of Burma's main trading partners and diplomatic supporters - China, India, Thailand, Singapore, and Russia - have repeatedly expressed support for the process. But in the past two years, arrests and intimidation of political activists have intensified. The number of political prisoners has doubled, offices of the Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party (NLD) have been forcibly closed, and freedom of expression, assembly, and association have been sharply curtailed.

"China, India, Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries should be calling for a genuine and participatory political process in Burma, which means serious public pressure for the release of political opponents," said Pearson. "Aung San Suu Kyi's latest arrest shows how their silence simply encourages more contempt for basic freedoms."

The United Nations has attempted mediation between Burma's military government and Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the NLD, calling for "national reconciliation" without success. Ibrahim Gambari, the current special adviser on Burma for the UN secretary-general, has visited Burma several times and met with Aung San Suu Kyi without obtaining any tangible results. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement today expressing "grave concern" and calling "on the government not to take any further action that could undermine" the process of national reconciliation.

"There is no process of national reconciliation whatsoever as long as political opponents like Aung San Suu Kyi are behind bars," said Pearson. "The UN has tried talking nicely to Burma's generals for years, but now the secretary-general should simply insist on Aung San Suu Kyi's unconditional release, from prison and from house arrest."

Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the NLD and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has spent more than 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. She has been detained in Insein Prison only once before, following the Depayin incident, when a pro-government mob attacked her motorcade in upper Burma on May 30, 2003.

Her five-year house arrest detention order was set to expire at the end of May 2009, after authorities imposed a one year extension in 2008. Aung San Suu Kyi's health has deteriorated in the past two years. Last week, members of her party said she suffered acute dehydration and low blood pressure.

READ MORE---> Burma: Free Aung San Suu Kyi...

Suu Kyi to Be Tried

The Irrawaddy News

RANGOON (AP) — Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was taken by armed escort Thursday to a prison compound where she will be tried in connection with the intrusion of an American man who sneaked into her compound, her lawyer said.

Such a trial could justify another extension of Suu Kyi's yearslong detention, which officially ends May 27. In the past the junta—which regards the Nobel Peace laureate as the biggest threat to their rule—has found reasons to extend her periods of house arrest, which international jurors say is illegal even under Burma's own law.

It was not immediately clear what accusation she faced, but Burmese exile groups said she was likely to be charged under a catchall public security law and could face a prison term of up to seven years.

An American man, John William Yettaw, was arrested last week for allegedly swimming a lake to secretly enter Suu Kyi's home and stay there for two days. His motives remain unclear. The intrusion raised fears that Suu Kyi may have been ensnared in activities that could put her in further legal trouble.

"Everyone is very angry with this wretched American. He is the cause of all these problems," Suu Kyi's lawyer Kyi Win told reporters. (JEG's: the American swimmer is a SPDC's plot)

Earlier, a motorcade accompanied by armed police, drove Suu Kyi and two women who live with her from their lakeside villa to Insein Prison. They were escorted into the closely guarded prison through a side gate.

One of many strict rules the junta imposes on citizens is that they must notify local officials about any overnight visitor who is not a family member. The law also states that foreigners are not allowed to spend the night at a local's home.

Some members of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, have been jailed for about two weeks for violating that law.

Kyi Win said that Suu Kyi told him she didn't invite the American and that she told him to leave her home. The lawyer said that the incident was merely a breach of security in the lakeside area where authorities normally keep close watch over Suu Kyi and her household.

Also to be tried are Suu Kyi's two helpers—Khin Khin Win, 65, and her daughter Win Ma Ma, 41—who have lived with her since she was last detained in 2003.

Suu Kyi, 63, has already spent more than 13 of the last 19 years—including the past six—in detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy, despite international pressure for her release.

She has recently been ill, suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure. Her condition improved this week after a visit from a doctor who administered an intravenous drip, Nyan Win said on Tuesday.

"Please tell them (reporters) I am well," the lawyer quoted Suu Kyi as saying. But he added: "I am very concerned about Suu Kyi's health, even though she said she is well."

According to the US Campaign for Burma, a Washington, DC-based lobbying group opposed to military rule in Burma, Suu Kyi and her two helpers were to be tried together with Suu Kyi's personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, and Yettaw.

The doctor was arrested without explanation last week, a day after Yettaw was taken into custody.

In an e-mailed statement, it said they would be charged with violating a section of the Emergency Provision Act on public order and security, which is often used against political dissidents. The charge would carry a maximum prison term of seven years.

The lobbying group did not say where it got its information.

"This is the cunning plan of the regime to put Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in continuous detention beyond the six years allowed by the law they used to justify the detention of her," the group said. Daw is a term of respect used for older women.

"This also shows total defiance of the regime to the United Nations and the international community who have been consistently and repeatedly calling for the regime to release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," the group said.

A US diplomat was allowed to visit Yettaw on Wednesday. Burma's state television showed a still photo of Yettaw meeting with consular chief Colin Furst. A US diplomat said the meeting lasted 30 minutes and that Yettaw said he had been treated well.

The diplomat, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters, said Yettaw had not at that time been formally charged with any crime. He did not elaborate, calling the issue sensitive.

Wednesday's TV report said the meeting took place at the Aung Tha-byay police station in Rangoon, which in the past has been used for detention and interrogation of suspected political dissidents.

Burma's state-run newspapers reported last week that Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, swam on the night of May 3 to Suu Kyi's lakeside home and departed by swimming a longer 1 1/4-mile (2-kilometer) route on the night of May 5, before being arrested the next morning.

The report said his motive was under investigation.

There are no known previous cases of anyone sneaking into Suu Kyi's home, though a well-informed account earlier this week on a pro-government Web site said Yettaw admitted to making a similar secret visit late last year.

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi to Be Tried...

Suu Kyi produced in prison court

by Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In a major development, which took the Opposition by surprise, the Burmese military junta authorities took Aung San Suu Kyi from her residence on Thursday morning to be produced in a special court in the infamous Insein prison, according to party sources.

She has been charged in connection with the case of an American citizen John William Yettaw, who intruded into her residence by swimming across Innya Lake in Rangoon.

Two maids who stay with Suu Kyi and look after her also face unspecified charges.

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi produced in prison court...

Suu Kyi to face charges related to ‘swimmer’

(DVB)–Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been ordered to appear in court this morning to face charges related to the US citizen who broke into her compound last week.

The imprisoned opposition leader met with her lawyer yesterday afternoon at 4pm to discuss the unsuccessful appeal for her release, and the incident involving US citizen John William Yettaw.

Suu Kyi later asked lawyer Kyi Win to return to her compound, where she has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years, and told him she had been ordered to appear in Rangoon’s Insein prison court at nine o’clock this morning.

According to Kyi Win, authorities deem the incident involving John William Yettaw, who was arrested last Wednesday after swimming across Inya Lake from Suu Kyi’s compound, to be a breach of her house arrest conditions.

Speaking to DVB, Kyi Win said that Suu Kyi hadn’t invited the man to her compound and therefore was not in breach of her conditions, under which she cannot invite visitors.

“Daw Suu told him to go back, but he didn’t,” said Kyi Win.

“He said he was so tired and wanted to rest, but she pleaded with him. Then he slept overnight on the ground floor.”

Suu Kyi’s caretaker Khin Khin Win, and his half-daughter, will also attend court, along with Kyi Win, lawyer Nyan Win, and another man, Hla Myo Myint.

The National League for Democracy leader’s current internment under house arrest is in its sixth year.

Her release date, as stated by the Burmese government, is due for 27 May.

Kyi Win also said that her health was improving following reports that she had been suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure.

“She looks OK,” he said.

“She has a very strong spirit.”

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi to face charges related to ‘swimmer’...