-
US citizen John William Yettaw taking a picture of himself before he swam across Inya Lake to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's compound in Yangon - Source: Reuters -
Related
The American man who swam to Aung San Suu Kyi's home and triggered her controversial trial takes the stand, as the Myanmar opposition leader marked six years in detention.
John Yettaw, 53, was expected to testify on the eighth day of a trial the West calls a charade to keep the Nobel Peace laureate in detention during elections next year.
US President Barack Obama was the latest world leader to demand her release "immediately and unconditionally", but the former Burma's ruling generals are showing no signs of retreat.
Suu Kyi, 63, is widely expected to be found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest by allowing Yettaw to stay at her home for two days in early May.
She faces a jail sentence of up to five years and her lawyers said a verdict could come as early as Friday.
"Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention, isolation, and show trial based on spurious charges cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime's willingness to be a responsible member of the international community," Obama said in a statement.
Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention, most of it at her lakeside home under police guard, her phone line cut and visitors restricted.
Authorities lifted her latest detention order on Wednesday, a day before it was due to expire after six years. But she remains in prison while awaiting a verdict.
"I don't know whether to be happy or sorry," said Nyan Win, one of her lawyers.
Secret trial
The court inside Yangon's tightly-guarded Insein prison was closed again to outsiders on Thursday, a day after diplomats and journalists were allowed to watch Suu Kyi's testimony.
Suu Kyi denied any prior knowledge of Yettaw's plans, but admitted she did not alert authorities after he arrived on May 4.
"I permitted him to take shelter at my home temporarily," Suu Kyi told the court. Her lawyers say she let him stay for humanitarian reasons after he complained of leg cramps.
Yettaw, who used homemade flippers to swim across Inya Lake to her home, has said he dreamt Suu Kyi was going to be assassinated and he wanted to warn her.
The 53-year-old Missouri resident is charged with immigration violations, illegal swimming and breaking a security law that protects the state from "subversive elements".
Suu Kyi's two female housemates, Daw Khin Khin Win and Ma Win Ma Ma, will also give testimony on Wednesday. They are charged under the same security law.
What to do
Myanmar's secretive generals, the latest in an unbroken line of military rulers since 1962, have ignored the Western outcry but bristled at criticism from regional neighbours who said the country's "honour and credibility" was at stake.
On Wednesday, Asian and European foreign ministers "called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties".
Some diplomats applauded China, which is one of Myanmar's biggest backers, for adopting what they described as a fresh, more critical tone when the issue was debated at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi.
The trial has renewed a long running debate over how to coax or force the generals into meaningful political reforms. Neither Western sanctions nor a policy of engagement favoured by Asian nations has succeeded so far.
The regime is pressing ahead with a "roadmap to democracy" that will culminate in 2010 elections, but critics call it a sham aimed at entrenching military power. The NLD has laid out a list of demands, including Suu Kyi's release, before deciding whether it will take part in the elections.
Some analysts argue the West should pressure on Beijing to exert its influence on Myanmar, which buys Chinese military hardware and receives loans in exchange for handing out energy concessions to Chinese firms.
Others say Beijing will never get tough with its "client state" and argue a new approach to Myanmar is needed.
"The time has come to think outside the diplomatic box for the creation of a new international alliance to deal with Burma's intransigent regime," exiled activist Aung Din wrote in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
