Myanmar - Suu Kyi

18 months more house arrest for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Article published on the 2009-08-11 Latest update 2009-08-11 14:40 TU

A Myanmar national living in Thailand calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release during a really outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on 11 August, 2009
(Photos: Reuters/Kerek Wongsa)

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months house arrest on Tuesday by a court at Insein prison in Yangon. Following the verdict, the European Union said it will tighten economic sanctions on Myanmar. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for her release.

Suu Kyi, the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was jailed for three years with hard labour but this was commuted to house arrest by the country’s military ruler, Than Shwe.

"All the political activists do not receive a fair trial, or protection from judiciary systems," Bo Kyi from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners told RFI.

She was found guilty of breaching the terms of her house arrest following a visit by American John Yettaw, who swam across a lake to visit her in May.

The decision means that the 64-year-old Nobel Laureate will be in detention during multi-party elections, which the military junta has promised will be held next year. The NLD won a landslide victory in the country’s last democratic polls in 1990.

Yettaw, 54, was sentenced to seven years hard labour and imprisonment. He received three years for breaching security laws, three years for immigration violations and one year for a municipal charge of illegal swimming.

He had testified that he swam to Suu Kyi’s house because he received a “message from God” telling him to protect her against a plot to assassinate her.

Suu Kyi, who has been in detention for almost 14 of the last 20 years, had argued that she was not responsible for Yettaw’s actions and that she was charged under outdated laws.

The trial had been criticised outside of Myanmar and Tuesday’s ruling has been widely condemned. For example, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the trial as a "sham". He said, "so long as Aung San Suu Kyi and all those political opponents imprisoned in Burma remain in detention and are prevented from playing their full part in the political process, the planned elections in 2010 will have no credibility or legitimacy."

"Now, there are at least 2,150 political prisoners in Burma," Bo told RFI. "At least maybe 50 members of parliament are now in prison, because of their peaceful demonstration," he added.

Meanwhile the EU has promised "targeted measures" to pressurise the junta, while French president Nicolas Sarkozy called on the EU to direct new sanctions specifically at the timber and ruby trade."

Malaysia's foreign minister Anifah Aman called for an urgent meeting of the the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss the issue.

"With this sentence there is no possibility for Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in the general election next year which should be free, fair and inclusive," he told the French news agency, AFP.