I am ready to face anything: Suu Kyi
Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, on Tuesday said she was “ready to face anything” as her lawyer said the military junta appeared rushing her trial to keep her incarcerated on charges that she violated conditions of her detention by sheltering a US citizen.
Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, on Tuesday said she was “ready to face anything” as her lawyer said the military junta appeared rushing her trial to keep her incarcerated on charges that she violated conditions of her detention by sheltering a US citizen.
Five prosecution witnesses testified on Tuesday at the closed-door trial of Suu Kyi, according to the spokesman of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Four of the witnesses are police officers, including the one who arrested an American intruder who sneaked into her lakeside home on May 3, Nyan Win told a news briefing at the NLD’s head office after the second day of court proceedings.
“It seems like they have sped up the trial process,” said Nyan Win, who earlier said he expected the trial to last at least three months.
“Normally the court does not have hearings everyday. At this rate the trial could finish next week,” he was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.
If convicted, Suu Kyi, 63, could face three to five years in prison. Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi told NLD members not to worry about her as she has not violated any law. “She said she is ready to face anything,” he said.
The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. The trial began on Monday at a court inside Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison amid tight security.
Suu Kyi was taken from her home to the prison on Thursday in relation to an unauthorised visit by the American man, John William Yettaw.
In Bangkok, chair of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, urged fellow ASEAN member Myanmar to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention, saying that the country's credibility was at stake.
In a statement, the ASEAN chair country expressed "grave concern" over the Myanmar junta's trial of Suu Kyi.