by Mungpi
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 20:12
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Lawyers for Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi say the trial against her is being conducted in a speedy fashion, with another court hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Nyan Win, one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense counsels and party spokesperson, said the trial is being held on a daily basis and speculates that “they [the government] seem to be in a hurry to close the case.”
“The next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow [Wednesday],” Nyan Win confirmed.
On Tuesday the prosecution produced five witnesses at the special court in Insein Prison, which the defense counsels were allowed to cross examine.
Two live-in party members of Aung San Suu Kyi's, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, along with American John William Yettaw, who are all being charged by the court, were also produced before the court today.
Nyan Win added that the cross examination of one witness, a police officer, by Yettaw’s lawyer provided some insight into the motives behind the American man’s visit to Aung San Suu Kyi’s house.
Nyan Win said Yettaw’s lawyer asked the witness whether it is true that Yettaw had confessed “that he had a revelation that Aung San Suu Kyi’s life is in danger. And that he had gone to inform her about it.”
But, saying the question was irrelevant, the court overruled the questioning and did not force the police officer to provide an answer, Nyan Win said.
John William Yettaw, an American citizen, was arrested by Burmese authorities on the morning of May 6th while allegedly swimming back from Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, where he stayed for three nights, according to state-run media.
Following his visit the Burmese democracy icon was charged for violating her detention by accepting Yettaw into her home and providing him with food. The two party members who live with her in her lakeside house were also charged.
Yettaw, on the other hand, faces charges related to immigration, trespassing into a restricted zone and violating a Burmese law that protects the state from those desiring to undertake subversive acts.
On Tuesday the junta’s newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, broke its silence over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The paper said Yettaw’s visit to the Burmese pro-democracy leader’s house on May 3rd was not the first time that he had visited the lakeside villa, also having visited the estate on November 30, 2008, meeting with Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma and leaving a ‘book of Mormon’.
Crowds and security forces standoff
Meanwhile, outside Insein Prison hundreds of supporters, party members and other curious civilians gathered to witness the unfolding events. But security forces had cordoned-off the area close to the prison gate and the crowd was unable to approach the prison entrance.
“We don’t know what is happening because the court and the people are too far separated. And after the court adjourns we were not allowed to meet with the crowd,” Nyan Win explained.
Veteran politician and National League for Democracy (NLD) central committee member, Win Tin, was among the crowd and nearly had a stand-off with security personnel when they directly approached him with their weapons ready, one observer reported.
Security forces attempted to disperse the crowd but the people just shifted to another nearby location.
An observer said security has been tightened with nearly double the number of police, soldiers and members of pro-junta civilian groups – Swan Arrshin and Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – deployed along Insein Road, with street lanes cordoned off with barbwire barricades.
Public access denied
The court’s proceedings on Tuesday were held behind closed doors inside the prison despite the defense counsels’ appeal to conduct the trial under public scrutiny.
Nyan Win said, “The court was empty with no other persons except those that are involved in the case and security officials.”
He said the witnesses, lawyers, judges and a U.S. consular officer, along with an interpreter, were the only people present in the court besides security personnel.
While denying comment on the proceedings, Nyan Win said the authorities seem to be in a hurry to wind-up the case and have called for a day-to-day trial to be conducted.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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