Clinton: US 'Deeply Troubled' Over Charges Against Burmese Opposition Leader
By VOA News
14 May 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is deeply troubled over the Burmese government's decision to make what she called "baseless" charges against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Clinton said Thursday that the new charges are, in her words, a "pretext to place further unjustified restrictions" on the Nobel Peace Laureate.
The 63-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years and faces a possible five-year prison sentence in connection with the new charges. On Thursday, she was taken to Rangoon's Insein prison to face charges connected to an unauthorized visit to her home by an American man.
Clinton called on Burma's military government to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and her personal physician, as well as the country's more than 2,100 political prisoners.
She spoke to reporters in Washington alongside her visiting counterpart from Malaysia.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said his government will press Burma on Aung San Suu Kyi's detention through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders also spoke out Thursday after Aung San Suu Kyi was taken to prison. The human rights group Amnesty International called for U.N. Security Council intervention to win her release.
Attorney Kyi Win said her trial will start Monday on charges of allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest. He said authorities have charged her with breaching a law against so-called "destructive elements" but that she denies any wrongdoing.
The charges stem from a recent incident in which an American man swam across a lake and hid inside Aung San Suu Kyi's home. Her lawyer called the man, John William Yettaw, a fool and said he would be charged with entering a restricted zone.
It is not clear why Yettaw entered Aung San Suu Kyi's residence or what he did in the two days he was there. Yettaw was detained by police as he was swimming back across the lake from her residence.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, Richard Mei, told VOA that Yettaw appeared at the court Thursday and is expected to be at a hearing next week.
Aung San Suu Kyi's two maids also will be put on trial in the case.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
