Myanmar - Suu Kyi trial

Aung San Suu Kyi verdict expected on Friday

Article published on the 2009-07-28 Latest update 2009-07-31 09:41 TU

Nyan Win, lawyer for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, speaks to reporters outside National League for Democracy headquarters in Yangon on 28 July, 2009
(Photo: Reuters/Aung Hla Tun)

The court handling the trial of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver its verdict on Friday, according to her lawyer.

Myanmar’s opposition leader faces five years in jail if she is found guilty of breaching the rules of her house arrest. The charges relate to a visit by American John Yettaw, who swam across a lake to her house in May.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers argue that she was not responsible for the intrusion by Yettaw and that she was charged under outdated laws.

"The verdict will be given this coming Friday,” defence lawyer Nyan Win told AFP. “We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”

Nyan Win said that judges at the court at Insein prison in Yangon, where Suu Kyi is being held, had indicated that sentencing would be delivered on the same day.

"We have a good chance according to the law, but we cannot know what the court will decide because this is a political case," he said. "If she is released unconditionally she will be home on that day. If not, the sentence will be together with the verdict."

The trial, largely held behind closed doors, has faced criticism from abroad. Last week US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should consider expelling Myanmar from the organisation if they did not free Suu Kyi.

The Nobel Peace Laureate has been in jail or under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years, ever since the governing junta refused to recognise the NLD's landslide election victory in 1990.

On Monday human rights group Amnesty International named Suu Kyi as this year’s "Ambassador of Conscience" for her efforts to promote democracy.