Burma's opposition leader charged
Updated
Burmese authorities have charged opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi with breaching the conditions of her house arrest.
Her trial which is set to begin on monday, comes conveniently close to the end of her current term of house arrest.
Presenter: Kanaha Sabapathy
Speakers: David Matheison, Burma researcher with Human Rights Watch in Thailand; Bo Kyi, is the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma
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SABAPATHY: Aung San Suu Kyi is to be charged under section 22 of the State Protection Act which carries a prison term of between three and five years. Her misdeed according to the authorities is that she had breached her conditions of house arrest by allowing an American to stay in her home for two days. John Yettaw had sneaked into Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside home via the lake and was arrested last week on his return swim. Describing Mr Yettaw as a fool, the nobel laureate's lawyer Kyi Win says his client did not breach her house arrest as she had pleaded with him to go back. David Matheison, Burma researcher with Human Rights Watch based in Chiangmai says it's not in Aung San Suu Kyi's nature to breach laws.
MATHEISON: I'm very certain Aung San Suu Kyi would have nothing to do with activists of this kind or with stunts like that. She has always been very clear and consistent about wanting to speak in public and wanting to engage in peaceful and constructive dialogue with the military authorities.
SABAPATHY: Interestingly the charges come just days before Ms. Suu Kyi's house arrest is due to end on May 27 and many see this new charge as a means to extend her detention. In the last 19 years since winning the elections of 1990 and being denied the right to govern, Aun San Suu Kyi has spent more than13 of them under house arrest. This time though she cannot return home..instead she and her two female companions, who are also being charged, will be held in a special house on the grounds of the Insein prison. But Ms. Suu Kyi who has not been keeping well will have access to her lawyers and will be allowed visits from her doctors. These are all concessions which are not accorded to the other two thousand odd political prisoners who are often given outrageous jail terms and sent to remote prisons. Bo Kyi, is the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma.
BO KYI: Many political prisoners have been transferred to the remote prisons, very far away from their families. It is very difficult to travel to those areas. And there they don't have any prison hospitals, or they don't have prison doctors in those places. It is very difficult for the political prisoners' families to visit and to provide medicines for their loved ones in prison.
SABAPATHY: As the Burmese junta gears up for multi party elections next year as part of its roadmap to democracy, David Matheison says it wants to clear the deck of any possible dissent including Ms Suu Kyi.
MATHEISON: I think the SPDC has proved the relevance of Aung San Suu Kyi by keeping her under house arrest and seclusion for so long. I think they are afraid of the effect that she will have on the political system. The next year will be very dicey in Burma. The regime is moving towards the 2010 elections. There is alot of unknowns. We do not know what the next steps would be, political parties haven't formed yet and importantly alot of these ethnic ceasefire militias, these very large armies around the borders are being told to disarm by the end of the year and become these pro -military border security forces and all of these groups have completely rejected that and they are not very happy with the way things are going. So the military government is very nervous about what is going to happen next.
SABAPATHY: And I suppose they see Aung San Suu Kyi as a trigger?
MATHEISON: She is certainly a very pivotal figure within Burman politics in the central Burmese areas. I think she still has a huge amount of support amongst the broader population.
