THE US and Europe led a chorus of condemnation last night after Burma’s military regime jailed and charged pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam across a lake to her property.
Foreign governments and human rights organisations accused the regime yesterday of planning to put Ms Suu Kyi on trial next week on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest as a pretext for keeping the winner of the last free vote in Burma, 19 years ago, in detention ahead of elections next year.
Ms Suu Kyi (63) faces up to five years in prison if convicted after John Yettaw swam to the property next to Lake Inya in Rangoon where the 1991 Nobel peace prize winner has been confined for 13 of the last 19 years.
The latest house detention order expires in a fortnight and the opposition leader’s lawyers intended to go to court to demand her release in time to lead her party in the election.
The US said Ms Suu Kyi’s arrest and charging under the Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of the Subversive Elements law was troubling.
British prime minister Gordon Brown said he was deeply disturbed at the charges against Ms Suu Kyi. “The Burmese regime is clearly intent on finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend her unlawful detention,” he said.
The EU special envoy to Burma, Piero Fassino, said there was “no justification” for the detention.
But there were growing questions about the circumstances of the incident that led to her arrest as Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyer revealed that Mr Yettaw also swam to her property last year to deliver a bible. Burmese exiles say when Ms Suu Kyi’s doctor visited her shortly afterwards, she asked him to tell the authorities about the intrusion but nothing more came of it.
Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, described Mr Yettaw as a “nutty fellow” and said she begged him to leave when he again swam to her house earlier this month, and had considered reporting him to the authorities. “Everyone is very angry with this wretched American. He is the cause of all these problems,” he said.
Mr Yettaw, a military veteran and psychology student from Falcon, Missouri, faces up to five years in prison for illegally entering a restricted zone.
Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyers say she did not violate the conditions of her house arrest because Mr Yettaw had arrived without invitation and was immediately asked to leave.
They said he stayed for one night after Ms Suu Kyi begged him to leave as soon as he arrived.
"He said he was so tired and wanted to rest, but she pleaded with him. Then he slept overnight on the ground floor," Mr Kyi Win told the Democratic Voice of Burma.
The lawyers say Mr Yettaw is a Mormon who prayed continually at Ms Suu Kyi’s house. The American told Burmese exiles in Thailand he was writing a “faith-based” book on heroism. – (Guardian service)
In a statement issued yesterday Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, said: “I utterly deplore the arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma and esteemed Nobel Peace laureate, her imprisonment in the notorious Insein Prison in Rangoon, and plans to bring her to trial on Monday.
“Her arrest is the latest chapter in an ongoing effort to silence this courageous pro-democracy advocate and opposition leader before, during and after the elections which are due to be held in 2010.
“Her arrest and incarceration at this time are particularly distressing, given the very real concerns regarding her state of health,” Mr Martin said.