Myanmar

Yettaw frightened Aung San Suu Kyi, court hears

Article published on the 2009-05-22 Latest update 2009-05-22 13:28 TU

A portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally calling for her release outside the U.N. office in Bangkok
(Photo: Reuters)

On the third day of the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the court heard that she was frightened by US national John Yettaw's appearance at her home in the incident that led to her arrest. The country's official paper, the New Light of Myanmar, reports that a two-hour film Yettaw made of his visit was shown during Friday's proceedings.

The New Light's court report said that a shaken Suu Kyi refused Yettaw's request for photographs to post on the video-sharing site YoutTube. She now faces trial, along with Yettaw and two of her assistants, for breaching the terms of her house arrest, which was due to come to an end soon.

In a phone call on Monday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone that the incident was probably a plot by anti-government campaigners, ahead of policy reviews in the US and elsewhere.

"Minister U Nyan Win expressed his opinion that [...] it was likely that this incident was timely trumped up, to intensify international pressure on Myanmar by internal and external anti-government elements," the the New Light reports.

Security was increased around the Insein Prison, where the trial is taking place, on Friday after hundreds of Suu Kyi's supporters turned out on Thursday. But, with heavy rainfall on Friday, few were present, according to witnesses.

After allowing some diplomats and journalists into court on Wednesday, officials have prevented them attending proceedings on Thursday and Friday.

France's Human Rights Minister Rama Yade will urge Myanmar to free Suu Kyi at next week's Asem Asia-Europe meeting in Phnom Penh, the Foreign Ministry announced today.