Clinton Calls for Release of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
By Scott Stearns
Goma
11 August 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling for the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The top U.S. diplomat commented during a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Burma's opposition political leader Aung San Suu Kyi should not have been tried and should not have been convicted.
The Burmese pro-democracy activist was sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest for violating the terms of her previous house arrest when she was visited by American John Yettaw.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison, including four years at hard labor.
Taking questions from reporters following a meeting with Congo leader Joseph Kabila, Secretary Clinton said the Obama administration is concerned with what she called Yettaw's harsh sentence.
She said Washington continues to call for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners in Burma.
Without an end to repression and the start of political reforms, Clinton says the election scheduled for next year in Burma will have absolutely no legitimacy.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in some form of detention, mostly under house arrest.
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