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DAW SUU IS SUFFERING POOR HEALTH IN THE NOTORIOUS PRISON

The NLD says Ms Suu Kyi, 63, has not been able to sleep at night because of continuing cramps in her legs and needs urgent medical attention.

Ms Suu Kyi is on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest after a US man broke into her home.

She denies the charges and faces five years in prison if found guilty.

Ms Suu Kyi has suffered from ill-health in the past. Shortly before her arrest on 14 May she was treated for dehydration and low blood pressure.

The NLD said she was "in desperate need of proper medical treatment".

"We are very much concerned about her health," it said in a statement.

Ms Suu Kyi has been under house arrest and banned from seeing all but a small group of people for 13 of the past 19 years.

She was arrested on 14 May after an American man swam across the lake to reach her compound, spending two nights there.

Critics of the trial say it is being used as an excuse to keep Ms Suu Kyi in detention until after elections scheduled for next year.

But Burma's ruling junta has rejected the international condemnation, saying the trial is "an internal legal issue".

ASEAN PM CALL FOR RELEASE AND REGIME TRACKY CONSTITUTION ON THE TRAIL

Support for Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has stepped up with about 100 more parliamentarians from Southeast Asian countries adding their voices to the growing international calls for her release.

Two Members of Parliament (MPs) from Singapore, Charles Chong and Inderjit Singh, on Friday called for the suspension of Burma from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) due to the Burmese junta’s disregard for Asean’s concerns over Suu Kyi.

Asean diplomat sources confirmed to The Irrawaddy that leading members of the regional bloc such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines are seriously considering suspending Burma’s membership if the junta extends Suu Kyi’s detention or sentences her to prison on trumped-up charges.

In Malaysia, 30 MPs on Tuesday joined half a million other signatories on a petition organized by an umbrella group called “Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now!” Among the politicians was Malaysian opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Before May 26, only three MPs had signed the petition calling for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma,” said Ye Min Htun, a Burmese activist based in Kuala Lumpur. “But now, 30 MPs have joined the campaign. I am very surprised.”


************"We are Facing a Crisis of Constitution,” Suu Kyi Tells Lawyer **********
Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi privately told him that the charges against her are invalid as she was charged under the 1975 State Security law, which was annulled by the 2008 constitution.
“We are facing a crisis of constitution, not a constitutional crisis,” she reportedly told him on Thursday.

The lawyer said that Suu Kyi was referring to a 1975 law enacted under the 1974 constitution, which became invalidated when the military seized power in 1988. In addition, under the junta’s “seven-step road map,” the country approved a new constitution in May 2008 by national referendum, which would also invalidate the 1975 act.
Defense witness Kyi Win (no relation to Suu Kyi’s lawyer Kyi Win) echoed Suu Kyi’s sentiments in the courtroom on Thursday, testifying that if the 1974 constitution was still in effect, then the existing constitution was “null and void,” according to a report in the state-run The New Light of Myanmar on Friday.
“The government has just done whatever they wanted,” he said. “In fact, if they want to do something regarding the trial, they must inform us.”



Yettaw reportedly confessed to the court that he accepted that he had broken Burmese immigration law and the law of Rangoon City Development Committee by secretly entering Suu Kyi’s residence at night without asking permission, even though he knew that the house was guarded by security members, the New Light of Myanmar reported

END BURMA'S SYSTEM AND LAST WITNESS SPEAKS OUT AT TRAIL

End Burma’s System of Impunity
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent 13 years under house arrest in Myanmar. This week, the Burmese junta is likely to extend her detention for up to five years under the trumped-up charge of allowing a visitor into her compound.

During eight years as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, I repeatedly called on the Burmese junta to release Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s 2,100 other political prisoners, to no avail. It is imperative that she be released immediately for the country’s process of reconciliation to move forward.

But while Suu Kyi has deservedly received a great deal of international attention over the past two decades, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities — more than one-third of the population — have suffered without international outcry. For Myanmar’s process of national reconciliation to be successful, the plight of the minorities must also be addressed.

Over the past 15 years, the Burmese Army has destroyed over 3,300 villages in a systematic and widespread campaign to subjugate ethnic groups. U.N. reports indicate that Burmese soldiers have frequently recruited child soldiers, used civilians as minesweepers and forced thousands of villagers into slave labor.

An official policy of impunity has empowered soldiers to rape and pillage. According to one account, in December 2008 a Burmese soldier marched into an ethnic Karen village in eastern Myanmar and abducted, raped and killed a 7-year old girl. Authorities refused to arrest the soldier; instead, officers threatened the parents with punishment if they did not accept a cash bribe to keep quiet.

In 2002, I received a report about 625 women who were systematically raped in Myanmar ’s Shan State over a five-year period. There was not a single account of successful prosecution.

I repeatedly documented the military’s many abuses in reports to the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. My work is only one example of U.N. efforts in Myanmar — since 1990, U.N. representatives have visited the country 37 times in an attempt to facilitate dialogue and promote human rights.

They have exhausted all domestic and diplomatic remedies without achieving human rights protection and national reconciliation in Myanmar. And while the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Human Rights Council have passed over 35 resolutions regarding Myanmar, the U.N. Security Council has yet to pass a single one. The United Nations will not be successful until the Security Council acts to directly address our stagnant efforts.

It is clear that the attacks in Myanmar will continue. It is equally evident that the country’s domestic legal system will not punish those perpetrating crimes against ethnic minorities.

It is time for the United Nations to take the next logical step: The Security Council must establish a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and impunity in Myanmar. The Security Council took similar steps with regard to Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The situation in Myanmar is equally as critical.

Creating a commission of inquiry will accomplish three important goals:

First, it will make the junta accountable for its crimes with a potential indictment by the International Criminal Court. Second, it will address the widespread culture of impunity in Burma. Third, it has the potential to deter future crimes against humanity in Myanmar.

For two decades, ethnic minorities in Myanmar have suffered while our diplomatic efforts failed to bear fruit. The time has come for the Security Council to act.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro was the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar from 2000 to 2008.

*******************Last witness speaks at trial ***********************
The sole witness allowed for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi insisted Thursday that she had broken no law, as a Myanmar court heard final testimony before closing arguments in a trial that could send the Nobel Peace Prize laureate to prison for five years.

Kyi Win, a legal expert and a member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, argued there was no legal basis to the charge that Suu Kyi had violated the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American swam secretly to her home.

Prosecutors seemed very unhappy at his testimony, Kyi Win told reporters outside the courtroom after the trial's ninth day. Accounts of testimony have generally come only from the state press and defense lawyer Nyan Win because reporters have been barred from all but two of the sessions.

The trial has drawn outrage from the international community and Suu Kyi's local supporters, who worry that the military junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through next year's elections. Her party won the last elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military, which has run the country since 1962.

Her six years of house arrest had been due to end Wednesday, but the American's bizarre visit this month brought her arrest instead.

Suu Kyi's defense team has acknowledged that John W. Yettaw swam to and sneaked into her lakeside home, where he stayed for two days. But they insist it was the duty of government guards outside her closely watched house to prevent any intruders.

YETTAW WAS WALKING TO DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S HOME

Burma’s state-run The New Light of Myanmar today reported that Yettaw had testified on Wednesday that he did not swim across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi’s compound, but had instead “walked along the bund of Inya Lake through [sic] the drain.”
the American had motioned with his arms in a pumping action as if walking quickly, but not as if he were swimming.

During nearly three hours of questioning, the former US-Vietnam War veteran from Falcon, Missouri, repeatedly said he “walked though” the lake to reach Suu Kyi's house, according to lawyers who spoke to The Irrawaddy.

The lawyers could not ascertain, however, whether Yettaw was referring to his first visit to Suu Kyi’s compound in November or to both visits.

How exactly he was able to traverse the 5-meter (15-foot) deep lake by foot was not clarified.

When a prosecution lawyer asked Yettaw whether he was making this statement about “walking through” the lake for the first time, Yettaw replied that he had repeatedly told police this during his interrogation, but the police officers did not record the details.
The banks of Inya Lake are blocked by security restrictions at many points and the lake is too deep to “walk through,” even at its perimeter. Local residents also say the lake is strewn with thick reeds and undergrowth.

The confusion over the testimony and the doubts it raises over whether his nocturnal swim across Inya Lake was, in fact, physically possible, is compounded by the disparity in reports from Burma’s official media.

It is still far from clear how Yettaw entered the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s lakeside residence on May 3.

According to lawyers who were present in the courtroom, when Yettaw, a Mormon, took the stand for the first time he told the court that he was "sent by God" to warn both her and the Burmese junta of a "terrorist plot” to assassinate her.

The pro-junta media also reported on Wednesday's testimonies by Suu Kyi’s two companions—Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma—who are also on trial.

According to The New Light of Myanmar, both women stated that they had heard Yettaw “moaning” outside the house; Khin Khin Win testified that this happened at about 3:30 a.m. She said she found a man lying outside the house and informed Suu Kyi. Both women testified that Yettaw was not let into the house until it was light.
According to a lawyer who spoke to The Irrawaddy, Yettaw also testified that when he left Suu Kyi's house on the occasion of his first visit on November 30, 2008, a policeman spotted him and pointed a gun at him. The policeman then shouted: “What are you doing?" According to the lawyer, Yettaw stated that the guard allowed him to continue to the lake after he responded by saying, “I'm coming back.”

However, official Burmese media did not report how Yettaw entered and left the compound on his second visit on May 3-5.

REGIME REJECTS ALL PRESSURES AND CAN YETTAW FLOT ON WATER?

on Thursday angrily rejected foreign "pressure and interference" over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, denying the case was a political ploy to keep her locked up for elections in 2010.

The ruling junta fired off a stinging rebuttal to Asian and European ministers at a meeting in Cambodia, in its strongest reaction yet to the storm of international outrage over its treatment of the pro-democracy icon.

The comments came as the sole defence witness took the stand at the closed court in Yangon's notorious Insein prison after judges disqualified the only other three people called to testify for the Nobel laureate.

"It is not political, it is not a human rights issue. So we don't accept pressure and interference from abroad," Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint told counterparts in Phnom Penh.

He told the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and EU that Aung San Suu Kyi's trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest was an "internal legal issue".The minister's remarks on live video appeared to have been accidentally broadcast to reporters at the press centre outside the closed-door meetings.

*******************Can Yettaw Flot On Water?****************************
John William Yettaw would have to be a triathlete to have swum two kilometers across Inya Lake carrying a backpack full of clothes, presents and books, according to a technical director with the world’s leading SCUBA diving authority.

“A triathlete can swim two kilometers (1.2 miles) in about 40 minutes,” said Mike Holme, the director of training at the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) in Sydney, Australia.
However, given the weight that this guy [Yettaw] was carrying and the conditions, it would be a big ‘ask.’ It’s not impossible, but he would have to be in very good shape.”

On Tuesday, police evidence was produced at the trial in Rangoon of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to stay overnight at her lakeside home on May 3-5.

According to one of her lawyers, Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), the 60 items of police evidence that were found in Suu Kyi’s home that allegedly belong to Yettaw include a black backpack, a video camera, two black Muslim robes, veils, stockings, pliers, money, a passport, sunglasses and several books, including the Book of Mormon. He was reportedly also carrying an empty five-liter plastic bottle.

It is alleged that 53-year-old Yettaw, who appears heavyset in photographs and is known to suffer from asthma and diabetes, attached homemade fins to his sandals and swam across Inya Lake on the night of May 3.

It is unknown where he set off from, only that state-run media reported that he was fished out of the water by police on the morning of May 5 on the west bank of the lake near the International Business Center and the American embassy.

If he had embarked from the same location, he would have had to swim two kilometers laden with the backpack and its contents to get to Suu Kyi’s compound.

A Thailand-based journalist familiar with Inya Lake speculated that—because most of the lakeside is off-limits to the public—the only other place where Yettaw could have set off from would be the Jade Gardens, which is a park located on a small peninsula just 100 to 200 meters in front of Suu Kyi’s house. The Jade Gardens are closed at night and security around the park is said to be “very tight.”

According to Holme, the five-liter bottle could have been used as a flotation device and, if the backpack were securely attached, it could have supported up to five kilograms in weight.

The weight of Yettaw’s backpack is not known. However, just the Book of Mormon alone would weigh about one kilogram if it were a hardback edition.

“First of all, those homemade fins wouldn’t have given him adequate propulsion,” said Holme. “And if the backpack and its contents got wet, it would be even harder to keep them afloat.”

Security around the detained opposition leader’s house is notoriously tight with an estimated 12 to 15 police officers on duty 24 hours a day. Police boats are a frequent sight on Inya Lake as they patrol the waters around Suu Kyi’s house.

To date, no statement has been issued by Burmese authorities that would suggest that Yettaw was spotted by security guards or police during his epic swim into Suu Kyi’s compound.

According to Rangoon residents, the perimeter of Inya Lake is covered in thick reeds, which make treading water very difficult and which have been responsible for many deaths in the past when people get tangled in the undergrowth. The water around Suu Kyi’s house is thought to be about five meters (15 feet) deep.

It is alleged by Burmese military authorities that when Yettaw arrived at the house, he was met by Suu Kyi’s two companions who fed him because he was exhausted. At 5 a.m. they informed Suu Kyi that an intruder had entered the house, said Nyan Win.

According to Suu Kyi’s lawyer, she asked him to leave but he was unable to go because of exhaustion and his health conditions.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI IS A VICTIM OT SHOW TRAIL

"The fact that I am the only party being prosecuted shows the partiality of the prosecution," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said in the statement, which was submitted to the court Tuesday.

Outrage from Asian and Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, has included accusations that the junta is trying to keep Suu Kyi in detention during elections it has planned for next year.

A pale and weak looking Suu Kyi insisted in testimony Tuesday that she did not violate the law.

The statement released Wednesday by Suu Kyi's party noted that when Yettaw first tried to visit her house, in November 2008, she reported the incident to authorities through her personal doctor, but no action was taken.

Suu Kyi said she also intended to report his visit this month through her doctor, Tin Myo Win, but he was not allowed into her house and was later held by authorities for more than a week.

"This incident occurred because of a security breach (by authorities). However, until now no action has been taken on security," Suu Kyi said in the statement.
Obama said Tuesday that Suu Kyi's continued detention, isolation and "show trial based on spurious charges" cast serious doubt on the Myanmar government's willingness to be a responsible member of the international community.

Asian and European ministers, meeting in Vietnam, urged Myanmar to release Suu Kyi, lift restrictions on political parties, and prepare for free, fair and multiparty elections in 2010. Myanmar's neighbor Thailand has said it has "grave concerns" about the trial.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is an indispensable partner in the dialogue leading to national reconciliation in Myanmar," Jan Kohout, deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic, said in Hanoi. "She should be released immediately." The Czech Republic currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
Diplomats and reporters, including one for The Associated Press, were allowed into the courtroom for Tuesday's session, the second time during the trial that access has been granted.

Suu Kyi rose to prominence as a leader of a 1988 democracy uprising that the military brutally suppressed. Her latest term of house arrest was to have ended Wednesday, according to her supporters. The junta argues it would have expired in November, but in any event has canceled her house arrest order, apparently because this is required by law when a suspect is charged with a crime.

******************NLD party marks bitter anniversary*******************
Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday marked the 19th anniversary of an election victory annulled by Myanmar's ruling junta, as an American man who triggered the democracy icon's trial was set to testify.
Dozens of plainclothes security officials videotaped and photographed people entering the event, including some western diplomats, while security was boosted across the city, witnesses said.
The NLD won Myanmar's last democratic elections on May 27, 1990 by a landslide, but the military regime never allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to form a government.

"We are releasing them to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo," an announcer said as the birds and balloons were sent into the air. Tin Oo is the detained deputy leader of the party.
Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have both been detained since May 30, 2003 -- six years ago on Saturday -- following a deadly attack on her convoy during a party visit to northern Myanmar by an allegedly government-backed mob.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

***************A victim of show trial: US*************************
US President Barack Obama called on Myanmar's junta to "immediately and unconditionally" free democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, saying she was the victim of a spurious show trial.

Obama escalated US pressure on Myanmar's ruling generals after the Nobel laureate took the stand for the first time in her trial at Yangon's notorious Insein jail and argued she had not violated the terms of her house arrest.

"I call on the Burmese government to release National League for Democracy Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from detention immediately and unconditionally," Obama said in a written statement.

"I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also been condemned around the world.

"Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention, isolation, and show trial based on spurious charges cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime's willingness to be a responsible member of the international community," Obama said.

Obama lauded Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) for her "profound patriotism, sacrifice, and the vision of a democratic and prosperous Burma" despite being confined to years of house arrest.

REGIME MOVES OUT BARRICADES AROUND SUU KYI'S HOME

Suu Kyi's lawyer said presiding judge Thaung Nyunt declared the court accepted the charge after testimony had finished for the day, and asked Suu Kyi if she was guilty.

"I am not guilty. I said I am not guilty because I have not broken any law," she replied, according to her lawyer Nyan Win, who spoke to reporters afterward.


In what her supporters are taking as an ominous sign, authorities have now removed the last of the barriers that were used to maintain roadblocks on either end on the street where her house is located, suggesting she may not be returning home any time soon.

The day she was taken away to prison, the barbed wire barricades on University Avenue were pulled aside, and then hauled away the next day, and the poles that were used to block the road were taken away after dark on Thursday.

Suu Kyi, who is being held and tried at Rangoon's Insein Prison, had been scheduled to be freed May 27 after six consecutive years under house arrest.

The trial was briefly opened to reporters and diplomats Wednesday but otherwise has been closed.

On Thursday, the prosecution showed a video said to have been shot by Yettaw at Suu Kyi's house during his latest visit, according to Nyan Win.

The video had a voice-over narration, apparently by Yettaw, which was translated into the Burmese language in the courtroom. In it, he said he had asked Suu Kyi to pose, but she had refused and looked nervous, so he felt sorry about the matter.

Yettaw on Wednesday also offered the first public clue to the motive for his actions, suggesting in a courtroom exchange that he had a premonition someone would try to kill the pro-democracy leader, according to Nyan Win, who attended the proceedings. He repeated the assertion in court Friday when he pleaded not guilty.

Yettaw, 53, is a part-time contractor from Falcon, Missouri, who became interested in Suu Kyi when he visited neighboring Thailand last year, his family has said.

CLOSED DOOR TRAIL AND UN TOP HEAD WILL GO TO BURMA SOON

The regime had unexpectedly opened up the hearing at the notorious Insein prison on Wednesday in an apparent concession to fierce international criticism of the charges against the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

But it clamped down again Thursday, despite a warning from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the regime's "outrageous" treatment of the democracy icon and a pledge by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to visit the country.

"The press will not be allowed today. Only for one day were diplomats and press allowed," a Burma official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

About 30 members of her National League for Democracy party, including the country's former longest serving political prisoner, Win Tin, kept up a vigil outside the prison as the trial resumed, witnesses said.

Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail if convicted of charges of breaching her house arrest, which stem from an incident earlier this month when an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside house.

A smiling, healthy-looking Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, had thanked diplomats for coming to the trial on Wednesday and said she hoped to meet them again in "better days."

Authorities allowed one diplomat from each of the 30 foreign embassies in Rangoon to attend the proceedings on Wednesday along with 10 journalists from local and foreign organisations.

Aung San Suu Kyi later met envoys from Thailand, Singapore and Russia, expressing hope that "it was not too late for something good to come out of this unfortunate incident," a Singapore government statement said.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UN TOP HEAD
BAN KI-MOON
WILL GO TO
BURMA SOON

Critics say the junta wants to keep her locked up ahead of elections planned for next year under a controversial "roadmap to democracy" that enshrines a role for the military in government.

In Washington, Clinton said the regime's treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi would automatically make the polls "illegitimate because of the way that they have treated her."

She added that it was "outrageous that they are trying her and that they continue to hold her because of her political popularity and they intend to hold elections in 2010."

UN chief Ban said he was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Myammar and said he would bring up the issue with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe.

"I'm going to visit Burma as soon as possible. Now I am very serious in discussing with (the) government of Burma when I could be able to visit Burma," he told CNN.

A western diplomat in Rangoon said however that the regime's strategy in the past had been to make as few concessions as possible when faced with international outrage, and then close up again when the pressure eases.

The junta did the same amid global anger over its crackdown on monk-led prote

sts in 2007 and its handling of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the diplomat said.

The regime refused to recognise a landslide victory by Aung San Suu Kyi's party in the last elections to be held in Burma in 1990. The military has ruled Burma since 1962.

TOTAL CRISIS & DIPLOMATS MEET DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI IN THE CAGE

Speaking as EU countries mulled action against the junta over its treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Total was the sole major European investor in the country.

"The only serious economic lever would obviously be Total," Kouchner told members of the French parliament, warning that any decision to stop the firm working in Myanmar would have serious consequences in the region.

"Total presents us with a problem that we are going to try to solve," he admitted. "No-one is saying that we shouldn't take a firm stance on Total.

"But if we take a firm stand that would be decided at the highest level of the state, and we're going to review the situation in the coming days, that would mean cutting off gas supplies to a good part of the Burmese population, not to mention the city of Bangkok, since the gas goes to Thailand," he said.

"We have to weigh things carefully," he continued, warning that if Total was forbidden from working in Myanmar's natural gas fields, Chinese firms would be quick to pick up the slack.

"That's not to say we're not considering it. That means that we're thinking seriously about it but we find the current situation in Myanmar unacceptable," Kouchner said.

On Monday, EU ministers meeting in Brussels criticised Myanmar's decision to prosecute Suu Kyi for having allowed an American trespasser to stay in the house where she was being held under house arrest.

But they failed to threaten new sanctions, preferring to call on India and China to bring pressure to bear on the regime.

Total, France's largest and most profitable company, has been a major investor in Myanmar's Yadana gas field since 1992. Production from Yadana represents 60 percent of Myanmar's gas exports to Thailand.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1996, banning arms exports, imposing visa restrictions on junta allies, limiting diplomatic contacts and freezing officials' offshore accounts.

New measures were taken in 2007 after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks, banning European firms from importing wood, minerals, gems and metals from Myanmar.

********Diplomats visit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, opens trial****************

Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi thanked diplomats for their support Wednesday after Myanmar's military government agreed to allow them and several journalists to attend her trial. They said she seemed "spirited" and in good health and one described her courtroom appearance as "awe-inspiring."

The Nobel Peace laureate, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man stayed at her home without official permission. The offense is punishable by up to five years' imprisonment.

Critics say the bizarre charge of hosting an uninvited foreign intruder is part of a plot by the military regime to keep 63-year-old Suu Kyi locked up during elections scheduled for next year. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but the military refused to allow the party to take power.

When the trial opened Monday, all outsiders were barred except for one U.S. diplomat who was allowed in because the man who sneaked into Suu Kyi's lakeside compound in the city of Yangon is an American.

Wednesday's decision to allow 29 foreign diplomats and 10 journalists into the hearings came as a surprise. Members of Suu Kyi's party said they still were seeking to have the proceedings opened to the public.

REGIME LETS DIPLOMATS TO HEAR ON TRAIL

opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi said she hoped for "better days" Wednesday as the ruling junta unexpectedly allowed diplomats and reporters to attend her trial.

The 63-year-old looked healthy as she thanked foreign envoys for coming to the Insein Prison in her first public comments since she was charged last week with breaching her house arrest, an AFP reporter inside the court said.

"Thank you very much for coming and for your support," Aung San Suu Kyi, wearing pink Burmese traditional dress, said inside the courtroom at the end of the third day of the trial.

"I can't meet you one by one, but I hope to meet you all in better days," she added.

Aung San Suu Kyi then went for a meeting with the ambassadors of Thailand, Singapore and Russia at a so-called "guest house" inside the prison compound.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner faces up to five years in jail if convicted of charges of breaching her house arrest stemming from an incident earlier this month in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside house.

The surprise move by the military regime to allow some diplomats and media access to the trial followed intense international pressure and a scathing condemnation by Myanmar's normally placid Southeast Asian neighbours.
Authorities held the first two days of hearings behind closed doors and had turned away European diplomats on Monday, but on Wednesday said representatives from all 30 foreign embassies would be allowed in.

The regime also allowed five journalists from foreign news organisations and the same number from local organisations to report on the hearing.
Asked to explain the regime's apparent change of heart, a western diplomat said that following international pressure on the ruling generals, particularly by ASEAN, "one has to ask if all these pressures played a role."

The Southeast Asian bloc, which has faced trouble with Myanmar since admitting the country in 1997, warned on Tuesday that the regime's "honour and credibility" were at stake over Aung San Suu Kyi's trial.
Critics say the junta has trumped up the charges to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up during elections due next year, and also to beat a May 27 deadline when her latest six-year period of detention expires.

The trial on Wednesday heard from only one police witness about the arrest of Yettaw, who used a pair of homemade flippers to swim across the lake before spending two days at Aung San Suu Kyi's residence.
“With the eyes of the international community on Myanmar at present, the honor and credibility of the government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake,” said the message, released by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, said the charges against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi were unjustified and demanded her release, along with that of an estimated 2,100 other political prisoners. Last week, in response to her arrest, the United States extended harsh economic sanctions against the ruling military junta, although the American government had said it was reviewing the effectiveness of this policy.

Other condemnation came from around the world, including from the United Nations and the European Union.

Nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates also have condemned the arrest of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the prize in 1991. “We are outraged by the deplorable actions of the military junta against Suu Kyi and strongly encourage challenging this obvious harassment of our fellow Nobel laureate,” the prize winners said in a statement.

Time to act on Burma

POSTED BY ANH

Published: 19/05/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: NewsAlthough the remarks by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that he is concerned about the continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is positive, what Thailand is doing about Burma is just rhetoric and far too little.

As a chair of Asean, it is a shame that Thailand is still spouting the same rhetorical phrases instead of taking concrete action. It should demand that Burma implement the resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2007 and bring perpetrators of the September 2007 crackdown to justice. Thailand should also support the call of pro-democracy forces that the SPDC-drafted constitution be scrapped since the process was not a participatory one.

Compared with other Southeast Asian nations, Thailand is not doing enough. We should send a clear message to Burma by doing what Indonesia did in August 2008, when it invited the Burmese members of parliament who were elected in the 1990 general election, to a session of its parliament. The Indonesian parliament also called for the postponement of exchanging ambassadors with Burma for Rangoon's lack of progress in human rights.

At their bilateral meeting last month, President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines asked Thein Sein, the self-appointed prime minister of the junta, to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

As chair of Asean, Thailand could also use the Asean Charter against Burma, since the regime is directly breaching the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights as stated in the Asean Charter.

If brave enough, Thailand could put the issue of continued oppression in Burma for discussion at the Asean summit this October.

However, the key question to all these moves is whether PM Abhisit would be brave enough to actually take such concrete and progressive actions, or would he prefer to continue with same old phrases (that he is ''concerned about the situation''), something that Thai PMs before him have done over and over again.

POKPONG LAWANSIRI

Open Letter to Aung San Suu Kyi

The Prime Minister has released an open letter to Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Read the letter:
Dear Daw Suu

The Burmese regime continues to resist the righteous clamour from your people and from the international community for your release. As you and the Burmese people are denied your democratic rights and freedoms the only way for me to communicate with you is through this open letter.

I wanted to publish it to let you know that you are not alone - that people are standing with you not just here in Britain, but everywhere that democracy and freedom are upheld.

We are heartened by your tremendous courage, your inspirational leadership, and by the knowledge that no oppression is so great that the forces of liberty cannot prevail The history books are full of stories of injustice. But they are also full of stories of hope, resistance and the victories that satisfy the deep human yearning to be free. I am confident that your story will stand prominently among those that show that from
the deepest wells of despair can come the greatest triumphs of human endeavour.

Inspired by and in solidarity with you, the British Government will continue to work with our international partners to support Burma’s path to stability, peace and economic recovery. The UN Security Council has set out the steps necessary for a return to democracy in Burma. I have worked with our partners in the EU to maintain sanctions that are tough and targeted against those individuals who wish to deny the Burmese people their rights. And I will continue to press your neighbours in Asia to work even harder for your release and that of all political prisoners in Burma.

My message to the Burmese regime is clear the people of Burma have suffered nearly half a century of conflict and isolation, it is time to embrace a new beginning. So I say to the Generals who imprison you: the time for a transition to democracy is now. By excluding you from that future, by silencing and imprisoning you, they condemn your country to
further decades of poverty and exclusion.

Your continued imprisonment reminds all of us that we should not take for granted the institution of democracy for which you campaign That we should not rest until you are able to play your rightful role in a free and secure Burma. And that our place is alongside all those who face imprisonment, repression and despair in their battle to build democracy, confront poverty and protect human rights. Daw Suu I want you to know: you are not alone.

Yours sincerely



Gordon Brown

Suu Kyi Court Continues Hearing Prosecution Witnesses

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Prosecution witnesses continued to give evidence on the second day of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial before a special court in Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday.

Sources within her National League for Democracy (NLD) said Suu Kyi and other defendants were not allowed to testify.

Evidence was heard on Tuesday from five government officials, including police Lt-Col Maung Muang Khin of the Criminal Investigation Department, and immigration officer Myat Twin, according to the NLD sources.

The sources said Suu Kyi was brought into the courtroom by women security officers.

Speaking on Tuesday to The Irrawaddy, one of Suu Kyi’s former lawyers, Aung Thein, who has been barred from defending her, challenged the official account of the circumstances leading to the NLD leader’s arrest and arraignment.

State-run newspapers reported on Tuesday that an American citizen, John William Yettaw, swam twice across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi’s home, in November 2008 and again this month.

On his second visit, Suu Kyi had allowed him to stay for two nights, giving him food and drink, the official reports said.

Aung Thein described the official version of events as “a story.” Suu Kyi’s house was well guarded by security men, who were also posted on the banks of the lake, he said.

Another lawyer, Kyi Win, said Suu Kyi had told Yettaw to leave her house, but he had refused. She did not report him to the authorities because she did not want anybody to get into trouble, Kyi Win said.

Suu Kyi’s doctor, Tin Myo Win, was also arrested last week and accused of knowing about Yettaw’s visit, but he was later released.

“Why didn’t they [the authorities] take action when Dr Tin Myo Win informed them that a US citizen had entered the house?” he asked.


"The trial will continue with the official complaints by the police. We don't know if Suu Kyi will speak today. All four will be in court," a Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The first witness, a police colonel who filed the original complaint against her, gave evidence on Monday. A total of 22 witnesses are expected to testify -- 21 of them police officers.

********ASEAN CALL FOR RELEASE**************
The trial has led to renewed calls for the release of the 63-year-old, and on Monday night Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which rarely criticises the junta, finally joined in.

A statement issued by Thailand, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the bloc, expressed "grave concern about recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, given her fragile health."

"With the eyes of the international community on Myanmar at present, the honour and the credibility of the Government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake," it said.

In Manila, about 30 Filipino protesters marched in front of Myanmar's embassy on Tuesday to call for her freedom and there were similar protests on Monday in Canada, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Myanmar's tightly controlled state media reported on the trial for the first time overnight, giving a rare mention of the imprisoned activist, who is still seen as the junta's most powerful foe.

State television and radio carried brief items late Monday while the government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper and Burmese-language Myanmar Ahlin had back-page reports on Tuesday.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday that a US consular officer was present in the courtroom for the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and Yettaw.

Yettaw used a pair of homemade flippers to swim across the lake to Aung San Suu Kyi's house, where he allegedly stayed between May 3 and May 5. He also allegedly crossed to the property on November 30, 2008.

Her latest six-year period of detention was due to expire on May 27, but Yettaw's visit has apparently provided the ruling generals with the ammunition they need to extend her detention past polls due in 2010.

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi refuses to take stand on trial

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Rangoon - Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday refused to take the stand in a prison court that has accused her of breaking her detention terms by allowing a US national to swim to her home-cum-prison this month, sources said.
The first day of the trial, held amid tight security at a special court at Insein Prison, adjourned at 1:45 pm after hearing the testimony of one witness, officials said. It will resume on Tuesday at 10:30 am


The Nobel laureate reportedly refused at first to enter the court room or to acknowledge her case when the court abbreviated her name to Suu Kyi, leaving out the Aung San which is the name of her famous father, an independence hero.


"If you cannot call me by my right name, I will not move," she reportedly told the court. Court officials then relented, using her full name, and she entered the court room.


Suu Kyi's lawyer Kyi Win asked that the trial be open to the public, but his request was rejected.


The defendants in the case include Suu Kyi; her two house helpers, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma; and American John William Yettaw. US diplomats were allowed to attend the trial but journalists and the public were not admitted to the jail which was under tight security.


Roads leading to Insein were blocked to traffic and the public Monday morning by barbed-wire barriers to prevent public protests against the trial, which could result in another five-year jail sentence for Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.


More than 100 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party led by Suu Kyi, gathered outside the prison in a show of support for their leader.




*****************US praises Thai stance on Suu Kyi********************************

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported Thailand's stance on Burma calling for the end of Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, a Foreign Ministry's spokesman said Monday.

Clinton phoned Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Saturday to praise Thai reaction over the Burmese junta's move to try the opposition leader, said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the minister.

However, Thailand would not take any tough action to pressure the junta for Suu Kyi's freedom, he said.

72 Former Presidents, Prime Ministers and actors and actresses Write to UN

The Club of Madrid has sent a letter, signed by 72 former presidents and prime ministers, to the United Nations urging Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to go to Burma to seek the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Condemning the recent arrest of Suu Kyi, the Club of Madrid, in a letter dated May 15, said: “We urge you to make use of every possible means, including considering to travel to Burma on behalf of the United Nations, to press for her immediate release.”

The letter released to the media on Sunday was signed by Ricardo Lagos, president of the Club of Madrid and former president of Chile; Mary Robinson, vice-president of the Club of Madrid and former president of Ireland, and Kjell Magne Bondevik, a member of the board of directors of the Club of Madrid and former prime minister of Norway.

The letter cited the October 11, 2007, presidential statement of the UN Security Council calling on the Burmese junta to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

“In defiance of the United Nations Security Council, the Burmese junta has not only almost doubled the number of political prisoners, but now also imprisoned and charged Aung San Suu Kyi with breaching the terms of her house arrest. Hearing of the court will start on 18 May, 2009. The charges carry a maximum jail term of five years,” it said.

Meanwhile, in advance of the trial of Suu Kyi more than 40 global celebrities on Sunday urged the countries of the world and the UN to speak in one voice and to demand that the Burmese democracy leader be freed immediately.

“We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for the United Nations and the entire international community to speak clearly and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi,” global celebrities said in a statement on Sunday.

Prominent signers included David Beckham, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Anderson Cooper, Madonna, John McCain, Sarah Jessica Parker, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Salman Rushdie, Meg Ryan and Steven Spielberg.

“Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world’s only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize laureate,” the statement said. “Last week Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein Prison to face criminal charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom.”

Among other signatories to the “Free Aung San Suu Kyi” statement were George Clooney, Madeleine Albright, Wes Anderson, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Broderick, Sandra Bullock, James Carville, Michael Chabon, Daniel Craig, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Dave Eggers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Václav Havel, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Norman Lear, Mary Matalin, Cindy McCain, Rose McGowan, Orhan Pamuk, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Robert Rodriguez, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, George Soros, Meryl Streep, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Watts, Prof Elie Wiesel and Owen Wilson.

DAW SUU ON REGIME TRAIL AND FORCES BARS AMBASSADORS TO GO

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial Monday, as hundreds of riot police ringed the country's most notorious prison to block protesters from proceedings that could send her to jail for five years.

Suu Kyi, who has already spend more than 13 of the last 19 years in detention, has been charged with violating the conditions of her house arrest by sheltering an American man who swam to her lakeside home to secretly visit her earlier this month.

More than 100 Suu Kyi supporters were able to get through an outer perimeter of barricades around Insein prison in Yangon, but not the inner one that was closely guarded by armed police and government supporters. One young protester was seen being taken away by police.

Yettaw's family members have described him as well-intentioned and unaware of the problems he could cause by trying to talk with Suu Kyi, but her supporters have expressed anger at him for getting the Nobel Peace laureate into trouble. Suu Kyi's lawyers have said the 53-year-old from Falcon, Missouri, was not invited to her residence and that she told him to leave.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party and one of four lawyers representing her at her trial, said the court rejected their request to open the trial to the public and media "for security reasons." He added that they would repeat their request.

"We are certain that we will win the case if it goes according to law because she didn't break the law," said Nyan Win, speaking at the party's headquarters. Courts in military-run Myanmar have rarely ruled in favor of Suu Kyi or any pro-democracy activists. Trial will resume at 10 am tomorrow, Tuesday 19 May.


************REGIME FORCES BARS AMBASSADOR TO GO FOR LISTENIN ON TRAIL***************
The trial is expected to last about three months, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.

Suu Kyi's lawyer asked the court to open up the hearings but was turned down because of security concerns, Win said.

Police put up roadblocks on the streets leading to the Insean Prison near Yangon, with a half-dozen officers at each station.

A group of diplomats from Germany, Italy, Australia and Britain tried to pass through the barricades to attend the trial. They were stopped and turned away.

"It was a way of signaling our concern at what's happening and the need for the proceedings in the court to take place in an open and transparent fashion," Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Mark Canning, told CNN.
The American visitor, John Yettaw, is charged with immigration violations and trespassing into a restrictive area, charges that carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

He is accused of staying overnight in Suu Kyi's lakeside home earlier this month, violating the conditions of her house arrest, according to the country's ruling military junta, which rarely grants her visitors.

The central Missouri man was appointed a lawyer selected by the U.S. embassy, Win said.

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and two of her maids have been detained under Section 22 of the country's legal code -- a law against subversion -- according to Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's

REGIME BARS SUU KYI'S LAWYERS

Myanmar's junta has barred a prominent activist lawyer from defending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as pressure intensifies on the regime to drop new charges against the Nobel Peace laureate.

Aung Thein said the order revoking his license was issued on Friday, a day after a prison court charged Suu Kyi with breaking the conditions of her nearly six-year house arrest, which is due to expire on May 27. "I went to Insein Prison to be one of the five defense lawyers for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and they issued the order the next day," Aung Thein told Reuters.

Critics of the regime have denounced the trial of Suu Kyi and two female companions, due to start on Monday, on charges stemming from the mysterious visit of an American intruder who was arrested after he claimed to have spent two days at her lakeside home in Yangon.

Suu Kyi, 63, faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

Her lawyers insist she is innocent and did not invite U.S. citizen John Yettaw, who according to state media swam to her tightly-guarded lakeside home using homemade flippers.

Yettaw's motives remained unclear, but he has been charged with various offences, including encouraging others to break the law and "illegal swimming."

Aung Thein, 62, was jailed for four months last year for contempt of court while defending political activists. A close associate who is not involved in Suu Kyi's defense, Khin Maung Shein, also had his license revoked.

"The revoking of his license to practice law is a blatant attempt by the regime to damage the defense for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her two live-in party members," the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

The rights group said 11 lawyers remain jailed in Myanmar.

FREE AUNG SAN SUU KYI MOVEMENT

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POSTED BY ANH

TOP US SENATORS DEMEND TO RELEASE DAW SUU

"Releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would signal the start of a constructive dialogue with the United States," they said in a joint statement.

Myanmar's military rulers were facing intense international pressure to reverse course after the Nobel Peace laureate, 63, was imprisoned ahead of a new trial next week for breaching the terms of her house arrest.

"The Obama Administration and Congress are reviewing America?s policy toward Burma. At this critical time, some in the junta are trying to leverage the recent alleged unauthorized entry into Aung San Suu Kyi?s compound to extend her detention," said Kerry and Lugar.

The ruling military junta took Aung San Suu Kyi from her home on Thursday to Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where she was charged over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside residence.

There was no comment from Myanmar's secretive regime, which has kept the frail opposition leader in detention for most of the last 19 years and now looks set to do so past controversial elections that are due next year.

"This action sends precisely the wrong message to the citizens of Burma, the people of Southeast Asia, and all those in the global community who seek for the Burmese people the opportunity to live in a country where universal human rights are respected, not trampled," said Kerry and Lugar.

NCUB RELEASES STATEMENT FOR WHOLE SITUATION FACING BURMA

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TURMOIL ON OPPOSITION SIDE IN BURMA

Myanmar faced intense international pressure Friday to free pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after she was imprisoned ahead of a new trial next week for breaching the terms of her house arrest.

The United States led Western calls for the immediate release of the Nobel Peace laureate while rights groups urged the UN Security Council to help the 63-year-old, whose trial is due to start in jail on Monday.

The ruling military junta took Aung San Suu Kyi from her home on Thursday to Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where she was charged over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside residence.

There was no comment from Myanmar's secretive regime, which has kept the frail opposition leader in detention for most of the last 19 years and now looks set to do so past controversial elections that are due next year.

New York-based Human Rights Watch called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to press the authorities for her release, accusing the junta of taking advantage of the US man's "bizarre stunt" to keep Aung San Suu Kyi detained.

Amnesty International demanded that the UN Security Council "urgently intervene" to secure her release. It urged Myanmar's powerful neighbours, China and India -- who have not reacted -- to press the country's ruling generals.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "deeply troubled" by the "baseless" case laid against Aung San Suu Kyi just days before her latest six-year detention was to have expired.
Regime under pressure to free Aung San Suu Kyi

Britain, France and other Western nations -- which like the United States have imposed sanctions on the country formerly known as Burma -- condemned the decision and said it did not bode well for the 2010 elections.

A group of eminent statesmen including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter also demanded her release.

Indonesia and Singapore, both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to which Myanmar also belongs, called for the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and drop the "arbitrary" new charges against her.

Thailand said it "hoped" that she would be freed, while there was no immediate reaction from the rest of the 10-nation bloc.

*****************BURMA DEMOCRACY ICON HELD IN NOTORIOUS PRISON*************************
Myanmar's jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi insists she is not guilty of violating her house arrest, her lawyer said Friday, as a clearer picture emerged of the American who swam to her home and kicked off the junta's latest crackdown.

Ahead of Suu Kyi's trial Monday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate spent the night at the country's notorious Insein Prison where she is being held in a "guest house" within the compound during her trial proceedings, said her lawyer Kyi Win.

Worldwide condemnation has poured in since Suu Kyi was charged Thursday with breaking the terms of her yearslong detention, just two weeks before she was due to be released. Her trial was scheduled to be held at a special court at the prison, which has held numerous political prisoners over the years.

World leaders, human rights groups and fellow Nobel laureates denounced the move as an attempt by the military junta to silence its chief opponent ahead of next year's election — which will be the first since Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 that the junta refused to recognize.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the charges and called for Suu Kyi's immediate release.

*************DEMOCRACY LEADER OF BURMA IS FACING TRAIL AFTER AMERICAN'S SWIM*********
The southeast Asian country's military junta rarely allows visitors to see Suu Kyi, and foreigners are not allowed overnight stays in local households.

The government said the presence of the American, John William Yettaw, in the lakeside home violated the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest.

Yettaw, was charged Thursday on two criminal counts -- entering the country illegally and staying at a resident's home without government permission, according to a spokesman for Suu Kyi's political party.

Both charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Suu Kyi on Thursday was taken to a prison compound near Yangon , where authorities set up a special room for her until the trial, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.

The government detained her at the Insean Prison compound under Section 22 of the country's legal code, a law against subversion of government, Nyan Win said.

If convicted, Suu Kyi could face three to five years in prison.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi on Thursday.

"I am deeply troubled by the Burmese government's decision to charge Aung San Suu Kyi for a baseless crime," Clinton said at the State Department in Washington, referring to Myanmar by its former name of Burma.

"We oppose the regime's efforts to use this incident as a pretext to place further unjustified restrictions on her. We call on the Burmese authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally, along with her doctor and the more than 2,100 political prisoners currently being held."

US consul meets American detained

Myanmar authorities allowed a U.S. diplomat to visit an American arrested last week for swimming across a lake to sneak into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a state television report Wednesday.

Myanmar state television showed a still photo of John William Yettaw meeting with consular chief Colin Furst. A U.S. diplomat confirmed the meeting, saying it lasted 30 minutes and that Yettaw appeared to be in good spirits and said he had been treated well.

The diplomat, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said that Yettaw had not yet been formally charged with any crime. He did not elaborate, calling the issue sensitive.

It was the first time a U.S. Embassy official had access to Yettaw since he was arrested May 6 after allegedly staying secretly for two days at Suu Kyi's house.

Wednesday's TV report said the meeting took place at the Aung Tha-byay police station in Yangon, which in the past has been used for detention and interrogation of suspected political dissidents.

Suu Kyi's supporters fear that Yettaw's reported stay could put her in legal jeopardy. Her personal doctor, one of the only people allowed to visit her on a regular basis, was detained last Thursday for no publicly announced reason.

She has been in detention for 13 of the last 19 years — including the past six — without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy despite international pressure for her release.

Myanmar's state-run newspapers reported last week that Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, swam about 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers) on the night of May 3 to the lakeside home of the 63-year-old Suu Kyi and left the same way on the night of May 5, before being arrested the next morning. The report said his motive was under investigation.

One of many strict rules Myanmar's military government imposes on citizens is that they must notify local officials about any overnight visitor who is not a family member. The law also states that foreigners are not allowed to spend the night at a local's home.

BURMA REGIME STRUGGLES TO OWN NEU WITH NORK KOREA

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While the whole world focus their attention on North Korean provocation of hostile Ballistic Missiles program with Medias reveal them in bold line letters, another involvements of North Korean Nuclear Technology are almost completed their projects in military rule Burma with full force of support by hundreds of North Korean Technicians and Technology but no one ever notice their rapid progress.

First project among other is located in the area of Maymyo (Pyinoolwin) and groups of villages were removed by force since year 2001. Construction of Nuclear Reactor in that area locally known as Kone-Baw village is almost completed. The most important raw material Uranium, require for Nuclear Project was founded in Lashio area of North-Eastern Shan State thus transportation is very convenience because the project site and Lashio are on the same road famously known in the old day called Burma-China road. It is also has easy access from port City of Rangoon to carry the old second-hand machinery and parts from North Korea. Training of technicians to run that reactor was commenced since year 2001. Groups of Army Engineering graduates were sent to Russia for further study.

Sad news for Burmese people are that the Pwe-Kauk water-fall originally known as BE fall in Maymyo, which remained as recreation centre for people almost a century long was now blocked to build Dam to provide require irrigation system for Nuclear Project. Construction of Dam was undertaken by Irrigation Department and works was done for more than 50% of the project. Relocating of villages, cultivated area and even including Buddhist Temples and Monasteries were done by force of military authority and painful to the inhabitants because they all are staying in the area by generations. Impact to environments with demolition of local flora and fauna are not substitutable but permanent.

Persecuting of local communities by authority is not just stopped yet. The beautiful landscaping, watershed and catchments area important for local farmers and inhabitants were damaged by explosion of mines for irrigation project. Explosion of mine destroyed not only the natural heritage but also the life-blood of local people. Big poultry farm of international standard with higher technology own by native of the country’s business group was suffering the lost of many fowls dead by explosion every day. Instead of compensating or finding the alternative way to avoid the lost of properties, military authority issue the order to close the poultry farm. That will be a big waste of millions and millions of investment. That poultry farm is intending to educate the latest technology to local farmer for higher yield of poultry but now all are down to the drain. Furthermore, poor local workers employed by farm will face the hardship of unemployment problem in near future.

Second project was started in Magwe Division, Min-Bu district, near Nga Phae village adjacent to the famous Scared Foot Print of Lord Buddha Which is call in Burmese “Mann-Shwe-Set-Taw Pagoda”. That project was built and supported by Russian Government with agreement of completion in 5 years term. Project included the building of Dam on the scared and famous Mann creek. Mann creek is famous for crystal clear water that pilgrims of Scared Foot Print Pagoda can lodge on the bank of the creek and enjoy the scene of surrounding mountain ridges with flowing water of which can see through to the bad of the creek decorated with stone pebble naturally. All of those beautiful natural gifts will became fairy tale in next 5 years time.

Third project will be building in east of Ya-Mae-Thinn Township. Military authority starts giving the marching order to local inhabitants that those refuse to move or try to delay were encountered with shooting incident by soldiers. Military authority issuing the Civil Act Section (144) in that area means authorizing the soldiers with license to kill. For the local farmers, they are staying in that area by generations and their forefathers converted the raw land into the fertile and cultivated land so for them move away mean commencing of poverty and famine. List of dead and injury by shooting are mounting in the area.

All of above three projects shown clearly that requirement for energy and electricity are not eminent in the region of where the Nuclear Reactors were located. Almost all of the Industrial Zone are around in Rangoon area and which are the most needed places for electricity supply but all three Nuclear Reactors are not built nearby so intention of Nuclear projects are very clear that they are not for peaceful purpose. Wasting of people’s money in Junta’s paranoia of protection and safety only for them is something selfish and ridiculous. Junta’s paranoia is obvious that they built the tunnel from their resident to airport in Nay-Pyi-Daw using the so much amount of people’s money only for their escape from people’s justice.

Furthermore, how we can trust the secondhand materials and technology of North Korea with their technicians. Nobody can assure the reliability and ability of North Korean as no proof of reputation about them. If we are thinking deeper about the safety of nuclear accident, we are terrified with fears and scare. Russians are not much better as we still can’t forget the Chernobyl accident in 1985 at old Soviet Union.

Constructions of the Dams in all around the Burma by Irrigation Department were very irresponsible and non-considerate matters as that caused so many negative effects. Impact on ecological balance was so great and that cause irregularity in weather and environmental damages. Relocating of people and villages because of constructions and flooding of water catchments cause unemployment and lost of fertile land. An extinction of local flora and fauna are not replaceable. But those Irrigation Department engineers involved in constructions projects were rich and became millionaires. They make their fortune by misusing people’s money, stealing and accepting bribes from sub-contractors for keeping the blind eyes on unqualified works etc. They own one after another of big houses in posh area of Rangoon and in every big cities including abroad. They can send their children to get further education in USA and UK. They are the one kind of class in Burma as can only compete with generals in corruption.

The person in-charge for all those senseless projects was recently honored by Junta and was promoted to the post of full general. He can be proud of misusing people’s properties and obeying the order of uneducated brainless paranoid Than Shwe so he became three stars general. His name is Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo.

Detained American Visited Suu Kyi Before?

Last week's incident—the first known case of someone creeping unnoticed into Suu Kyi's closely guarded compound—has raised fears that the Nobel Peace laureate may have been ensnared in activities that could put her in further legal trouble.

A new report in a Burmese-language Web site published two photos said to have been found in the digital camera of the visitor, identified by the US Embassy as John William Yettaw. One photo shows a heavyset, middle-aged man posing for a self-portrait in front of a mirror. The other shows feet wearing swimming flippers. The report says Yettaw is from Falcon, Missouri.

The Web site, tharkinwe.com, seems to be close to the country's military-ruled government and hostile to Suu Kyi's democracy movement.

Pro-democracy activists and diplomats in Rangoon have voiced suspicions that the incident may have been concocted by the government. There has been no government comment beyond the original report in the state-run press.

Suu Kyi has already spent more than 13 of the last 19 years—including the past six—in detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy, despite international pressure for her release.

Her house is a restricted zone, she has no telephone, and she cannot be contacted for comment.

Burma's state-run newspapers reported last week that Yettaw swam on the night of May 3 to the lakeside home of the 63-year-old Suu Kyi and left the same way on the night of May 5, before being arrested the next morning. The swimming distance between the house and where he was arrested is about 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers).

The reports said the man was found with an empty 1.3-gallon (5-liter) plastic water jug—presumably used as a floatation device—as well as a US passport, a flashlight, pliers, a camera, two $100 bills and some local currency.

Aside from the number of his passport and the claim that the man arrived in Rangoon on May 2 and spent two full days inside Suu Kyi's compound, no other details were given. The authorities were said to be investigating his motives.

The US Embassy has requested access to the detained man, which as of Monday had still not been granted, embassy spokesman Richard Mei said. He confirmed that Yettaw had made a previous visit to Burma, and said his family had been told of his arrest.

Mei said the embassy did not know about Yettaw's activities.

Verifying the detained man's identity has been complicated because the spelling of his name has varied slightly in the Burma's official press. But the name given by the embassy is consistent with details in Monday's Web site account, some of which The Associated Press have confirmed using US public records.

Neighbors, along with a phone listing and court records, confirm that a 53-year-old man named John William Yettaw has a residence in the small rural community of Falcon, Missouri, and previously lived in California. Yettaw has a wife and seven children, most or all of whom live nearby.

Repeated calls to Yettaw's friends and family went unanswered, and messages left had not received a reply by Monday.

The account on the tharkinwe.com Web site included several details that do not seem to be otherwise publicly available, suggesting that they were leaked by security officials. No attribution was given for them.

The most surprising assertion was that Yettaw had confessed to swimming to Suu Kyi's house during his earlier visit to Burma on November 7-December 3, 2008 and staying there for a longer period, not specified in the report. It cited him saying that he had scouted his swimming route using the Google Earth web service.

The Web site's report also said that on arrival last week at Suu Kyi's house, Yettaw first met her two female assistants—a mother and daughter who are her sole allowed companions—and told them that he was tired and hungry after the swim and has diabetes. The two women, supporters of Suu Kyi's party, were said to have given him food.

One of many strict rules the junta imposes on citizens is that they must notify local officials about any overnight visitor who is not a family member. The law also states that foreigners are not allowed to spend the night at a local's home.

Some members of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, have been jailed for about two weeks for violating that law.

"I'm not really concerned she could be penalized for this break-in because she didn't invite him in," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's party, adding that it was worrisome how easily the man accessed her home.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS SEMINAR SPEAK OUT THE ATROCITIES OF BURMA REGIME

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
POSTED BY ANH
Photo by Alan Clift (fwg)

Former Political Prisoners holds revealing seminar at Cerritos College, 11110 Alondra Blvd, Norwalk, CA. 90650 how all political prisoners are suffering for atrocities inside Burma in the hand of the cruelest regime.
Global message to the students and the professors through the net work around the world, organizing students’ seminars is mainly aiming to emerge new idea for the change in Burma.
“All Burmese human rights prisoners are the people who love democracy and basic human rights values and respect dignity.
They desire and struggle for every individual rights to live as human beings, and they became as the victims of the political oppression by the Burma malicious regime.
Today, all the Burmese political prisoners are still fighting for what they beliefs as well as US citizens and US students who have the same love for democracy and value for each individuals rights,
If the citizens and students around the world understand Burma where all political prisoners stand for difficulties, please support their rights to change Burma.
Together, we all human rights collaboration will increase and will remain enormous human rights effects in coming history of Burma and the world.
Many Burmese political prisoners who were recently sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in remote prisons around the country are suffering from physical and mental health problem.
Burma’s Prisons and Labour Camps: Silent Killing Fields,” at least 127 political prisoners are in poor health and 19 of them require urgent medical attention, including Aung San Suu Kyi, comedian Zarganar, female labor activist Su Su Nway and 88 Generation Students group leader Min Ko Naing.
The report said that more than 350 activists have been sentenced since October last year, and the majority of them have been transferred to remote jails away from their families. The prison transfers make it difficult for family members to visit and provide essential medicine.

“Many political prisoners have already died in prisons and this has to stop immediately. The regime must end its cruel and inhumane practices, and release all political prisoners.”said in the seminar.

Since November 2008, at least 228 political prisoners have been transferred to remote prisons far from their families. The long-term consequences for the health of political prisoners who have been transferred will be very serious, said the report.

There are 44 prisons in Burma and at least 50 labor camps. Some of them do not have a prison hospital and at least 12 of the prisons do not even have a prison doctor.

BRITISH MPS STRONGLY URGE UN TO TAKE ACTION ON BURMA

Over 60 British Members of Parliament have called on the United Nations to form a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity committed by Burma’s ruling junta and to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in relation to the crisis in Burma.

The MPs including the Former Foreign Office Ministers, Ian McCartney and Keith Vaz have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM), which was tabled by MP John Bercow, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, expressing concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Burma.

The MPs, in the EDM, urged the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in relation to the Burmese junta’s appalling human rights records particularly a military campaign against its ethnic nationalities.

The EMD “urges Her Majesty's Government, along with other governments, to propose the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma; and urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect in relation to the crisis in Burma.”

Rights groups and activists accused Burma’s military government of using policies to terrorize its citizens, more severely in remote areas of the country, where ethnic minorities live, in order to maintain its stranglehold on power.

The Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a campaign group that has been lobbying for democratic change in Burma, in a statement on Thursday said the Burmese junta’s policies include the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, and child soldiers.

The junta’s army has also destroyed over 3,300 villages in eastern Burma since 1996, and launched attacks on civilians resulting in displacement of about a million people, the group said.

John Bercow, who had visited the Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border, where Burmese ethnics live in precarious states, said he had heard horrific stories from victims of human rights violations.

“I have sat face to face with victims of unspeakable torture, including women and children who have seen their loved ones murdered. They have looked me in the eye and pleaded for the world to hear their cry,” Bercow said in the statement.

“It is time their cries were answered and the junta's crimes investigated. The people of Burma urgently need the freedom and justice they have been denied for so long," he added.

The Early Day Motions are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons in the British Parliament. While very few EDMs are actually debated, they highlight the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or view point.

Alexa Papadouris, CSW's Advocacy Director said their group calls on “the British Government and other Governments to take this call seriously and to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against humanity.”

The concept of R2P was adopted in 2005 World Summit, where governments and world leaders agreed that they have a responsibility to protect when a government is unable or unwilling to protect its civilians from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

In implementing R2P, first peaceful measures can be adopted through the use of economic, political, diplomatic, and legal tools but if this fails the International community can use collective force through the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, only as a last resort.