Prison could be Suu Kyi's death sentence: Lawyer
Updated
Reports from Rangoon say dozens of Ms Suu Kyi's supporters gathered near Insein prison outside Yangon as the hearing got under way, one of whom was arrested by riot police posted behind barbed wire blockades.
The Nobel Peace Laureate's lawyers applied for the trial to be held in open court, but that was rejected by the judges.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Jared Genser is international legal counsel for Aung San Suu Kyi
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GENSER; Well, she does have her primary counsel, U Kyi Win, and two assistants, although one of the people who applied to help her on the case has already been debarred and his law licence revoked. So she will be able to put on a defence, but in the context where there is not an independent and impartial judiciary and where, frankly, the junta regularly sentences dissidents to lengthy prison terms within any due process of law is going to be a real challenge to get a fair trial.
LAM: And as Ms Suu Kyi's international counsel, is there any kind of coordinated legal approach that you might suggest on her behalf?
GENSER: Well, obviously I would refer completely to U Kyi Win, now in terms of what's happening inside the country, as he is not only an expert Burmese lawyer, but he has been working on these kinds of cases for decades. But with respect to an international legal strategy, we will take her case again, once it's concluded to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which five times over the last 19 years has found that her detention is in violation of international law. And actually the most recent opinion, just a number of months ago, found that her detention in that case was even in violation of Burmese law.
LAM: And Jared, from all reports, it is not just Ms Suu Kyi's Burmese supporters but many overseas supporters are also outraged that she is landed in Insein prison. The military has never taken much notice of international opinion in the past, but do you think that it is important that foreign governments speak out against her trial?
GENSER: Er, absolutely and I think actually the time for her speaking out hopefully will be coming to an end and a time for action needs to begin. I think in practical terms, it's a very serious situation for her health. Insein Prison is notorious for its horrendous conditions. Tuberculosis is rampant, it gets very hot on a typical night with no breeze, bed bugs, mosquitoes. It is really just a grim, grim place. And with her most recent health problems, any lengthy prison term in Insein Prison could be a death sentence.
LAM: Indeed, Ms Suu Kyi was reportedly not in the best of health, even before she was thrown into Insein. What do we know of her present condition?
GENSER: Well, I mean we only know what her lawyer has reported, because he is the only one who is able to see her. We understand that she is in better health than she was before. She had low blood pressure as well as deyhdration. She has had some health problems over the years and so we understand she is doing okay, but U Kyi Win did express concern about her health and even for a very healthy person, in Insein Prison, it's a dangerous place.
LAM: And you spoke earlier about the time for talk being over and that it's time for action. What would you expect ASEAN to do? I mean ASEAN, after all as a grouping, adopted a human rights charter last year. Will representations be made on Ms Suu Kyi's behalf to ASEAN?
GENSER: Well, I mean, I hope so. I would say that the three things that are going to be done. First, I would like see the UN Secretary-General make an emergency visit to Burma, and demand to meet with General Than Shwe, to discuss the situation. Second, I would like to see an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council if she is in fact convicted, to try to press for action in the council. And third, I would like to see ASEAN actually step up and say or do something. Frankly, they have not said a word since she was charged and I think that's a terrible statement on behalf of the entire grouping and the grouping is really suffering from having Burma as a member.
LAM: And Jared, moving back to Rangoon. I understand that Ms Suu Kyi's housekeeper and her daughter were also charged. How were they at fault?
GENSER: Well, I would not say how any of them were at fault and I think the primary reason for that the military junta exclusively was responsible for security around her home and in fact this gentleman apparently showed up six months ago and in fact was reported to the regime. So the fact that the regime let him back into the country, let alone back into the compound, without having strengthened the security status knowing that it had been breached once, before suggests that they (the military) are exclusively at fault.
LAM: So what do you make of some reports that John Yettaw, the American ex-serviceman in question, that he might have been a plant by the Burmese military to get an excuse to prolong Ms Suu Kyi's imprisonment?
GENSER: Well, it is true that they needed some excuse, and frankly I was expecting them to come up with something. I did not know what it was going to be. But that's because on May 27th of this month, her sixth year of house arrest was going to expire and that junta a number of years ago had argued that it was a maximum six year term under house arrest. The UN and other Burmese lawyers argued that that was five years, so it expired a year ago. But under the terms that they (the military) saw it, it was going to expire on May 27th and they do not obviously want her to be out and gathering up tens-of-thousands of supporters at a speech with the upcoming elections next spring.
