Suu Kyi Insists Her Trial Will Test Rule of Law in Burma
By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News
Aung San Suu Kyi insisted after Tuesday’s final session of her trial before Friday’s scheduled verdict that the proceedings would show “whether or not the rule of law exists in the country,” according to her lawyer Nyan Win.
Suu Kyi made the comment to Nyan Win after the court announced a verdict would be announced on Friday. Suu Kyi is charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest order by giving refuge to an American trespasser, John Yettaw, and faces a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment if convicted.
Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy that his legal team had tried its best in accordance with the law.
Suu Kyi was innocent, Nyan Win insisted. “She [Suu Kyi] did not break the law. According to the law, it will be unlawful if the court even sentences her.”
During Tuesday’s two-hour morning session, a defense plea for more witnesses to be heard was rejected by the court, Nyan Win said.
Win Tin, an NLD executive leader who joined Suu Kyi supporters outside Insein Prison on Tuesday, said her two female companions and Yettaw also appeared at Tuesday’s session.
Suu Kyi’s companions Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma also face a charge of giving unlawful refuge to Yettaw. They are represented by Hla Myo Myint.
Nyan Win was one of four lawyers representing Suu Kyi at Tuesday’s session. The others were Kyi Wynn, Hla Myo Myint and Khin Htay Kywe, according to Khin Maung Swe, an NLD spokesperson.
Diplomats from Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the US were allowed to attend Tuesday’s session, according to an Associated Press report.
Last weekend, Suu Kyi told Nyan Win that she is unhappy with the continual delays in her trial, which she said gave the prosecution more time to prepare its final arguments. The trial began on May 18 and has been interrupted by several adjournments.
The proceedings against Suu Kyi have drawn wide international condemnation.
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers called for the release of Suu Kyi and more than 2,100 other political prisoners during the Asean Ministerial Meeting and Asean Regional Forum at Phuket in southern Thailand.
The Burmese state-owned newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, carried an editorial last weekend saying that “demanding the release of Suu Kyi means showing reckless disregard for the law.”
The opposition leader has spent nearly 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. Her latest term of detention began in May 2003, when she and her supporters came under attack by junta-backed thugs while traveling in central Burma.
