Myanmar's supreme court agreed today to hear an appeal against the extended house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as the European Union said it wanted sustained dialogue with the ruling junta.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, 64, was ordered to spend another 18 months in detention in
August after being convicted over an incident in which a US man swam to her house. A lower court rejected an initial appeal in October.
"The supreme court decided to hear Aung San Suu Kyi's request. Lawyers have to present arguments before the court on December 21," a Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity.
The decision had been posted on the noticeboard of the court in the former capital Yangon today, the official added.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), confirmed that the top court had agreed to hear the appeal but said he had no further details.
Myanmar's military rulers have kept Suu Kyi in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, ever since they refused to
recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last democratic elections in 1990.
The extension of her house arrest after a trial at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison sparked international outrage
as it effectively keeps her off the stage for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010.