Burma allows diplomats to attent Suu Kyi trial briefly
Updated
After allowing foreign diplomats and media to attend the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, the Burmese authoritites have closed doors to the trial.
Ms Suu Kyi is being tried on charges of breaching her conditions of house arrest over an incident in which an American, John Yettaw had sneaked into her lakeside home. Depite international condemnation of the charges as a trumped up case to keep Ms Suu Kyi out of the elections due next year, the trial began on Monday in secrecy.
Britian's ambassador to Burma Mark Canning says it came as a surprise when the foreign diplomatic corps was invited to attend.
Presenter: Kanaha Sabapathy
Speaker: Britian's ambassador to Burma Mark Canning
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MARK CANNING: I don't think we expected it. We were told at about 10 o'clock that we'd get access a couple of hours later. I mean clearly what it's all about is I think trying to buy off some of the stream of international criticism that the launching of this trial has provoked.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: Was it clear from the start that this was only going to be a one day access?
MARK CANNING: Yes, it was. It was billed at that and there was also the hint that if everyone behaved themselves and there was no problem, then this arrangement might be continued at a later stage. It wouldn't surprise me at all if access was given again, I mean because we need to be very careful here that we don't get diverted away from the fact that the core problem, namely her detention, has not been addressed. But it would be completely characteristic if they were to offer a few more minor concessions of the sort that we saw yesterday.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: Was there a special effort made on the trial yesterday to showcase it?
MARK CANNING: I don't think so. I think it was kept to one hour obviously so that a convenient sort of time span, but I think the proceedings that we were watching and the way the court was laid out was probably much the same as it is every day. The point about the judicial system here in Burma is that while it has the outward appearance of normality, you've got the judges, you've got defence prosecution, witnesses, it all looks, you know, very good and very comforting and very familiar, but of course that is not where the problem is. The problem lies in the fact that the decisions made by the courts are in most cases predetermined.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: What was the general physical condition of Aung San Suu Kyi?
MARK CANNING: Well given the experience she's been through for almost two decades, I thought she looked in remarkably good shape. She was very much in charge of her defence. She was dignified. So all in all, that she was reasonably reassuring. But of course she's getting on in age and she needs to lead a more normal life.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: I gather that she also met privately with three Ambassadors from Singapore, Thailand and Russia. Were they handpicked by the junta for this meeting?
MARK CANNING: They were picked for different reasons. The Singaporean is what's called a Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, ie the longest serving diplomat. The representative of the Russian Embassy, the Ambassador chose not to go. Russia is the current chair of the Security Council and then the Thai Rep. was to reflect the fact that Thailand is the Chair of ASEAN, so there was a rationale behind the choice.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: Does anyone know how long this case is going to go on for?
MARK CANNING: No way of telling. Some of these trials go on for a matter of hours, some of them can extend for months. The best guess of the defence team at the moment is that it will last around two weeks, but we can't be sure.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: And is there a general assumption that at the end of the day, the junta will still go ahead with the case and sentence her?
MARK CANNING: Well, I think they've made something of a miscalculation and I think they've taken note of the criticism that they've received, particularly from within the region. That they're kind of locked into this now and I think it's difficult to conceive of any other outcome but a guilty verdict. There's some speculation that they will perhaps deliver a sentence that is shorter than it might have been before, but we don't really know. But I think we can be fairly safe in the assumption it will be a guilty verdict.
KANAHA SABAPATHY: I gather that Mr John Yettaw is also facing charges, what is the state of that trial, do you know?
MARK CANNING: Well, this is one of the remarkable features about the trial. There's three trials going on in the same courtroom at the same time, so yesterday in front of us we had Aung San Suu Kyi, we had had two house keepers who were also facing charges and on the other side of the room we had the American citizen, Mr Yettaw who's facing a separate set of charges, so it's something of a mystery how all these three different strands of the process work, but there are not parallel processes going on. It's all taking place within the same courtroom.
