PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces new charges after an American man swam across a lake and entered her home, less than two weeks before her house arrest was due to end, her lawyer said.
Supporters accused the military government of using the incident to keep her in detention ahead of general elections scheduled next year.
Ms Suu Kyi, whose detention was set to end on 27 May, faces a prison term of up to five years if convicted, s
aid lawyer Hla Myo Myint. The trial is due to start on Monday at a court at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, where she was arraigned yesterday.
She is accused of breaking the terms of her detention by harbouring the visitor for two days, even though another of Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers said she told the man to leave her home. "Everyone is very angry with this wretched American. He is the cause of all these problems," said lawyer Kyi Win. "He's a fool."
The junta appears eager to ensure next year's elections are carried out without significant opposition from pro-democracy groups that say the balloting will merely perpetuate military rule under a democratic guise.
Human rights groups fear the trial will be used to justify another extension of Ms Suu Kyi's detention despite international demands for her release. The 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years in detention without trial for her non-violent promotion of democracy in Burma.
The motives of American John William Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, remained unclear. State TV yesterday said he had served two years in the military and listed his occupation as "student, clinical psychology, Forest Institution". It was apparently the second time he had tried to meet Ms Suu Kyi at her home.
Mr Kyi Win said Mr Yettaw was told to leave after his first attempt in late 2008. This time Mr Yettaw refused. "I know that John is harmless and not politically motivated in any way," his stepson, Paul Nedrow, told the US media. "He did not want to cause Suu Kyi any trouble."
Mr Nedrow said Mr Yettaw was diabetic and "could become disoriented and confused and be unable to make wise choices."
A pro-government Burma website said that after arriving at Ms Suu Kyi's house, Mr Yettaw told her two female assistants that he was tired and hungry after the swim and had diabetes. They gave him food.
Mr Win told US government-backed Radio Free Asia that Mr Yettaw pleaded with Ms Suu Kyi to let him stay because he felt weak, so she finally let him stay in a downstairs bedroom.
In the past Burma's junta – which regards Ms Suu Kyi as the biggest threat to its rule – has found reasons to extend her periods of house arrest, bending the letter of the law.
"The Burmese regime is clearly intent on finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend her unlawful detention. The real injustice, the real illegality, is that she is still detained in the first place," said Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his book Courage.
Yettaw, who was arrested last week, was charged at yesterday's hearing with illegally entering a restricted zone, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and breaking immigration laws, which is punishable by up to one year in jail, said Hla Myo Myint.
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which describes itself as the country's government-in-exile, said the junta was using the incident to extend Ms Suu Kyi's detention.
"It is nothing more than a political ploy to hoodwink the international community so that it can keep her under lock and key while the military manoeuvres its way to election victory on 2010," the group's prime minister, Sein Win, said.
Ms Suu Kyi has recently been ill, suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure. Her condition improved this week after a visit by a doctor who administered an intravenous drip, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party, who is also part of a team of three lawyers hoping to represent her.
"Please tell reporters I am well," Kyi Win quoted Ms Suu Kyi as saying. But he added: "I am very concerned about Suu Kyi's health, even though she said she is well."
The full article contains 739 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
