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May 21, 2009

Burma Again Bars Access to Aung San Suu Kyi's Trial
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Nobel Prize laureate on trial for allegedly violating conditions of her
six-year house arrest by receiving visitor without official permission 
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (2008 file)Burmese
authorities have again barred observers from the trial of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after opening doors to foreign diplomats
and several journalists. The court was scheduled to hear several more
prosecution witnesses Thursday, the fourth day of the trial. The
Associated Press reports that half of the prosecution's 22 witnesses
have testified since the trial opened Monday. The Nobel Prize laureate
is on trial for allegedly violating the conditions of her six-year house
arrest by receiving a visitor without official permission. U.S. citizen
John Yettaw swam to Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside home on May 3. Her
lawyers said she had asked him to leave, but allowed him to stay for two
days after he said he was too exhausted and ill to swim back. Yettaw and
Aung San Suu Kyi's two maids are also on trial. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD
supproters gather near Insein Prison where she is being detained in
Yangon, 21 May 2009A spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy, Nyan Win, quoted Yettaw as saying he was motivated to
visit the pro-democracy leader because he had a premonition she was at
risk of being assassinated. The 53-year-old man from Falcon, Missouri
reportedly said he came to Burma to warn her of the danger. The trial,
which began just days before Aung San Suu Kyi was to be released from
her latest house arrest, has caused international outrage. If convicted,
she could face up to five years in prison. Critics say Burma's military
leaders want to keep her under detention and away from next year's
elections. The opposition leader has been under house arrest for more
than 13 of the past 19 years. Her National League for Democracy party
won Burma's elections in 1980 but the country's military leaders have
refused to relinquish power. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on
Wednesday told a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday that the U.S.
rejects the Burmese government's "baseless charges" against Aung San Suu

Kyi. She said if the trial continued, Burma will render its 2010
election "totally illegitimate."

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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