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Suu Kyi to stand trial

SINGAPORE: Celebrated democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi will be put on trial by Myanmar’s junta, according to political and legal sources in Yangon.

As a prelude, the Nobel Peace Laureate was on Thursday shifted to Insein Prison from her Yangon house, where she was under arrest for long. She required medical attention a few days ago; and her two women assistants were also shifted to the prison premises.

Her lawyer Kyi Win and her party spokesman Nyan Win told The Hindu over telephone that the hearing was set to start in a special court on May 18.

She was charged under Section 22 of the State Protection Law in the context of her alleged hospitality towards an “American intruder” at her residence.

The military rulers said the “intruder” had entered her house by swimming across the adjoining lake a few days ago. And, in this version, he was arrested after he left her house.

Mr. Nyan Win said the junta was accusing Ms. Suu Kyi of “breaching discipline” and the code of house arrest restrictions.

However, she committed “no offence”. “Humanitarian” considerations alone guided whatever action she might have taken in the circumstances. The entire case, for which a first information report was filed on Thursday, was simply “a political issue,” he said.

Mr. Kyi Win said Ms. Suu Kyi could not be held accountable at all, as “she did not invite the intruder.” Her alleged hospitality towards him was an act of “mercy,” given his condition after the swim. The lawyer quoted her as saying she would face these charges in a bid to prevent possible action by the junta against her followers in this context.

Ms. Suu Kyi’s house arrest would run its full course by May 27. The latest case should, therefore, be seen in this light, the lawyer noted.

This view found an echo in the regional diplomatic circles, as a conviction in the case could entail a new sentence ranging from three years to five years.

Ms. Suu Kyi has already been subjected to some form of detention or other for well over a decade. To ward off pressure on this count, Myanmar has in fact told the ASEAN that her house arrest would not be open-ended.

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