Aung San Suu Kyi guilty: 18 months under house arrest to exclude her from 2010 elections

Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Yangon court has convicted Aung San Suu Kyi  to “three years hard labour”. The measure was then commuted – on the orders of Than Shwe, leader of the military dictatorship in power in Myanmar - to 18 months under house arrest.

The sentence brought to an end the trial against the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), a trial that was controlled from the outset by the regime with the aim of prolonging the house arrest of the “Lady”.  This morning the Court, in an unexpected move, allowed journalists waiting outside to attend the reading of the verdict.

Following the declaration of the verdict and sentencing to three years in prison, there was a five minute pause. The Burmese Minister of the Interior then entered the courtroom and read a special order from Than Shwe, who has decided on the commutation of the sentence to “18 months under house arrest”.

According to Yangon court judges, Aung San Suu Kyi violated the terms of house arrest for having hosted the 53 year-old American John Yettaw, (also on trial) in her home for two nights. The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s lawyers consistently rejected the accusations, explaining that the opposition leader was acting on "humanitarian grounds" and the law under which she was being accused - on "State Security" - refers to the Constitution of 1974, repealed in 1988 with the rise to power of the military dictatorship.

The Nobel Laureate was jailed on May 14 last and has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest. On 26 May, the military junta removed the provision of house arrest against the "Lady", the terms of which expired the very next day. After six years of restriction, the woman was supposed to return to freedom, but the junta has used the arrival of the American citizen as a "pretext" to keep her in prison.