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A Myanmarese protester displays a picture of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration - Source: Reuters -
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US President Barack Obama urged Myanmar's ruling generals to
release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and
unconditionally.
"I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also
been condemned around the world," Obama said in a statement.
Suu Kyi, a 63-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, has been under house
arrest for six years and faces a trial that has been condemned by
the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and human
rights groups.
She is accused of violating the terms of that house arrest by
allowing an American intruder to stay in her home in early May.
Suu Kyi is widely expected to be found guilty and faces up to
five years in prison.
"I call on the Burmese government to release National League for
Democracy Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi from detention immediately and unconditionally," said
Obama, referring to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Obama, who renewed US sanctions on Myanmar on May 15, called the
charges against Suu Kyi spurious and said the trial cast doubt on
the Myanmar government's willingness to be a responsible member of
the international community.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election
landslide only to be denied power, and she has been in prison or
under house arrest for more than half of the last two decades.
