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Myanmarese protesters during a demonstration outside the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur against the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi - Source: Reuters -
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Judges in the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi delayed her final hearing until the end of next week and and postponed ruling on whether to allow three barred defence witnesses to testify.
Closing arguments in the case of the Nobel laureate were adjourned for a third time, without explanation, until June 12, her lawyer Nyan Win said.
"The hearing has been put back," he said. "No reason was given."
Suu Kyi's political party has expressed "grave concern" about her health during the trial, but Nyan Win said she appeared fit and well when she stood before the court on Friday.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was also present today, she is in good health," he added.
Suu Kyi's lawyers told the Yangon Division Court court that a lower court's decision to accept only one defence witness, while hearing 14 from the prosecution, was grossly unfair.
"This is not in accord with the law to reject defence witnesses like this. We pointed it out," Nyan Win said.
Judges postponed until June 9 their ruling on whether to re-instate the banned defence witnesses, Win Tin, a senior National League for Democracy (NLD) member, the party's detained vice-chairman Tin Oo, and lawyer Khin Moe Moe.
Suu Kyi, 63, faces three to five years in prison if found guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to stay for two days after he swam to her home on May 4.
A conviction is widely expected in the former Burma, where the courts routinely bend the law to suit the country's military rulers.
Lawful trial?
The junta insists the trial will unfold "according to the law". Critics say the charges have been trumped up to keep the charismatic NLD leader in detention during elections next year.
Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in some form of detention, much of it a virtual prisoner inside her home on Yangon's Inya Lake.
The May 27 decision to allow her only one witness, lawyer and NLD MP Kyi Win, angered activists who saw another attempt to sabotage her defence. Authorities had revoked the licence of one her lawyers before the trial began.
Suu Kyi is accused of violating her house arrest under Section 22 of a security law protecting the state from "subversive elements". Her lawyers argue that section is not valid because it is based on a constitution abolished years ago.
Her two female housemates and the American intruder, John Yettaw, are charged under the same law.
Yettaw, 53, has told the court that God sent him to warn Suu Kyi she was going to be assassinated by "terrorists".
His lawyer, Khin Maung Oo, said Yettaw is a "sincere, honest and pious man" who acted alone and with no criminal intent. Yettaw is also accused of immigration violations and breaking a municipal law against swimming in Inya Lake.
"We hope the court passes a lenient sentence," he said.
Suu Kyi has blamed Yettaw's bizarre visit on a security breach, for which no officials have been punished.
The regime has accused Western governments and critical neighbours of meddling in its internal affairs. It has vowed to press ahead with a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" expected to culminate in multi-party elections next year.
Critics say the polls will entrench nearly a half century of military rule.
