International News
Court to rule on Aung San Suu Kyi appeal today
Posted on: Fri February 26, 2010
International Highlights
YANGON: Myanmar s Supreme Court will rule on Friday on detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi s appeal against an 18-month extension to her house arrest, a court notice said.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi had her detention extended in August after being convicted over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her house, while a lower court rejected an initial appeal in October. The court will issue its verdict at 10:00 am (0330 GMT), said the notice posted outside the court building in Yangon on Thursday. If the Supreme Court turns down her case, Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi can make a final appeal to Myanmar s chief justice. She has already spent most of the last 20 years in jail or under house arrest.
I just heard about the court notice. I do not want to guess what the Supreme Court s verdict will be, but she is clearly not guilty, said Nyan Win, one of her lawyers and the spokesman for her National League for Democracy.
During a meeting on Wednesday, Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi had jokingly asked if he thought she had behaved well enough to be released early by Myanmar s ruling junta. But she has previously dismissed comments by Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo, who reportedly said she would be released in November, as unfair in preempting any court decision.
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide but the military government never allowed it to take power.
The junta has promised to hold elections some time this year but has refused to so far set a date and critics say they are aimed at simply entrenching the generals power.
Suu Kyi is effectively barred from standing in the promised polls and a quarter of the parliamentary seats up for grabs are reserved for the military.
She has said it is too early for her party to decide whether to participate in the elections while freedome of expression remains elusive.
At least 2,100 other political prisoners remain behind bars in Myanmar, according to UN figures.
Courtesy : The News