Myanmar’s democracy icon denies charges at tribunal

Agence France-Presse

refid:11732328 ilişkili resim dosyası

The Nobel Prize winner was testifying for the first time at the maximum security Insein Prison in Yangon, in a case, which has drawn widespread international condemnation of the country's iron-fisted military junta. "I didn't," the 63-year-old replied when a judge asked her whether she had breached the restriction order keeping her at her residence, according to reporters and diplomats present at the hearing.

The long-standing figurehead of Myanmar's opposition movement, Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail if convicted. She has been under house arrest or in jail for 13 of the last 19 years, including the last six. She said the first she knew of the bizarre visit by American army veteran John Yettaw was when her assistant woke her up at around dawn on May 4 to tell her that a man had arrived at the house.

"I did not inform them," she said when asked by the judge whether she had told Myanmar's military authorities about the intrusion. Aung San Suu Kyi was also asked about claims that she had given Yettaw food and let him stay at the house, replying: "I allowed him to have temporary shelter."

She said Yettaw left just before midnight on May 5, adding: "I only knew that he went to the lakeside. I did not know which way he went because it was dark." The junta is also trying Yettaw and two female aides who live with Suu Kyi in her house. Yettaw has said he swam across a lake to the house to warn her of a vision he had that she would be assassinated.

In a surprise development, Myanmar authorities informed Suu Kyi yesterday that her six-year period of house arrest was officially over - although she still remains in detention at the prison, her party said. "We don't know whether we should be happy or sad, because she is still in detention on these charges," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy, or NLD.

"I cannot guess the verdict, but according to the law she should be completely free." A senior policeman said that the regime could legally keep her under house arrest for another six months, a statement contested by her lawyers, who said it was due to expire today. The junta made a rare concession yesterday by letting diplomats and some Myanmar journalists inside the notorious prison to see Suu Kyi testify.