Myanmar Presses Case Against Pro-Democracy Leader

Nyein Chan Naing/European Pressphoto Agency
A Buddhist monk passed a police roadblock on Monday near Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was taken to the prison on Thursday.

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com

By SETH MYDANS
Published: May 19, 2009

BANGKOK — As protests grew around the world, the trial of Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, continued for a second day Tuesday, with the government pursuing charges that could transform her house arrest into the harsher conditions of a prison term.

Hundreds of police officers, some in full riot gear, blocked roads leading to Insein Prison, where the trial is being held, and a small number of protesters gathered in the street outside a ring of barbed wire, according to reports from the scene by news agencies and exile groups.

Analysts say the case against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, is intended as a legal pretext for extending her house arrest, which would otherwise expire later this month. Myanmar plans to hold a general election early next year to cement the control of the military under a nominally civilian administration.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is charged with receiving an unauthorized visitor after an intrusion by an American, John Yettaw, who swam across a lake two weeks ago and entered the compound where she has been held under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

Her lawyers say that she had no role in his intrusion and asked him to leave, but that she let him stay the night when he complained of exhaustion and leg cramps. Her two housekeepers are on trial with her on similar charges, which could bring prison terms of up to five years.

Mr. Yettaw, who is also a defendant in the trial, faces up to six years in prison for breaking security and immigration laws.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, said the charges against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi were unjustified and demanded her release, along with that of an estimated 2,100 other political prisoners. Last week, in response to her arrest, the United States extended harsh economic sanctions against the ruling military junta, although the American government had said it was reviewing the effectiveness of this policy.

Other condemnation came from around the world, including from the United Nations and the European Union. Breaching a low-key policy of “constructive engagement,” Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbors issued a statement late Monday expressing “grave concern” over Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest and saying “the honor and credibility” of the Myanmar government were at stake.

The statement, issued by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, read: “The Government of the Union of Myanmar, as a responsible member of Asean, has the responsibility to protect and promote human rights. It is therefore called upon to provide timely and adequate medical care to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as to accord her humane treatment with dignity.”

The members of Asean are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Also on Monday, nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates condemned the arrest of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the prize in 1991. “We are outraged by the deplorable actions of the military junta against Suu Kyi and strongly encourage challenging this obvious harassment of our fellow Nobel laureate,” the prize winners said in a statement.