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Suu Kyi lawyers to appeal sentence at top Myanmar court
Lawyers for Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were set to argue an appeal against her extended house arrest sentence at the country's supreme court on Monday.
Lawyers for Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were set to argue an appeal against her extended house arrest sentence at the country's supreme court on Monday.
The 64-year-old democracy icon 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.
"We all four lawyers will go to the supreme court and give our arguments," said Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi's legal team and a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD).
"We will argue that Daw Suu is not guilty according to the law," he told AFP. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.
The hearing at the Yangon court was expected to begin at 10am local time (0330 GMT) and last around an hour. Observers said there would be no verdict today and Suu Kyi was not expected to attend the hearing.
Myanmar's military rulers have kept Suu Kyi in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, since they refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last democratic elections in 1990.
The extension of her detention after a prison trial sparked international outrage as it effectively keeps her off the stage for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010.
