Suu Kyi lawyers 'optimistic'

Lawyers for Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed optimism about her case today after the only witness allowed to give evidence for the defence addressed the court in her trial.

Closing arguments in a case that could send the Nobel Peace laureate to prison for five years will be heard on Monday.

The defence has argued that there is no legal basis for the charge that Ms Suu Kyi, 63, had broken the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American swam to her home.

Her supporters fear that she may be found guilty because the courts are under the influence of the ruling junta and usually deliver harsh punishment for political dissidents.

But one of Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Nyan Win, said he was “very confident of victory if the trial is carried out according to law”.

The trial has drawn outrage from the international community and Ms Suu Kyi’s local supporters, who worry that the military junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through next year’s elections.

Her party won the last elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military, which has run the country since 1962.

Ms Suu Kyi’s defence team admits 53-year-old John Yettaw swam to and entered her lakeside home, where he stayed for two days. But they say it was the duty of government guards outside her closely-watched house to prevent any intruders.

Mr Yettaw, 53, was taken to Ms Suu Kyi’s home, accompanied by dozens of police, to re-enact before court officials how he entered and left her compound, state-run newspapers said today.

Kyi Win, the defence witness who is a legal expert and a member of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, highlighted what appears to be the defence’s main argument, that the charge against Ms Suu Kyi is unlawful.

The charge cites a 1975 state security law, not the more narrowly-defined confinement order for her house arrest.

The 1975 law sets out broader penalties and refers to the 1974 constitution, which was annulled when the military took power in 1988. The country adopted a new charter last year.

Prosecutors seemed very unhappy at his testimony, Mr Kyi Win told reporters outside the court in Rangoon after the trial’s ninth day.

Mr Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, and two female party members who live with Ms Suu Kyi, face the same charge as Ms Suu Kyi and have pleaded not guilty.

Mr Yettaw told the court on Wednesday he had been sent by God to warn Ms Suu Kyi of his premonition that she would be assassinated by terrorists, Mr Nyan Win said.

Ms Suu Kyi said she allowed him to stay for two days because he said he was too tired and ill to leave immediately.

Mr Yettaw also secretly went to her house late last year but did not meet Ms Suu Kyi. He said security staff observed him during both of his visits but did not try to stop him, Mr Nyan Win said.