Suu Kyi denied permission to attend appeal hearing

by Myint Maung
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 21:14

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Aung San Suu Kyi’s request to the Rangoon Division of the Special Branch of Police to allow her to be present in court, which will hear her appeal against the lower court’s verdict, has been rejected.

The Rangoon Divisional court will hear arguments by her lawyers on September 18 on her appeal. She sent a letter of request to the Special Branch (SB) of Police on September 11 to allow her to be present in court on that day but it was rejected by SB through her lawyers the next day.

“Daw Suu applied on September 11, but the SB called us to their office on September 12 and told us about rejecting her request saying that the matter concerned only the court,” her lawyer Nyan Win told Mizzima.

Regarding the nature of the court hearing, Nyan Win said, if the accused wanted to be present in the court during the hearing of appeal and the court had no objections, the accused can be allowed into the court.

“But If this person is in prison, the prison authorities must accompany the person to the court. In this case, Daw Suu is being detained by the SB. So the SB must take her to the court. So we applied to the SB,” he added.

As per the 8-point restriction in her detention clause at her home on University Avenue in Rangoon, she can send request letters for whatever she wants. So she sent a letter to the Rangoon Divisional SB to let her be present at the court hearing.

After an American John William Yettaw entered her house in early May this year, the military regime tried her and sentenced her and her two live-in party colleagues to three years in prison with hard labour on September 11.

But an executive order by the junta Supremo Senior Gen. Than Shwe reduced her sentence by half and allowed her to serve time at her home.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers defended her in the district court on the ground that the 1974 Constitution under which the case was filed, is no longer in force.

In paragraph 3 of the Preamble of the 2008 Constitution, it says ‘the 1974 Constitution came to an end because of the general situation occurred in 1988’. Moreover Senior Gen. Than Shwe signed an ordinance on 29 May 2008 which says the 1974 Constitution has come to an end and is null and void.

The Burmese pro-democracy leader’s lawyers filed an appeal case against the lower court’s verdict in the Rangoon Divisional Court on September 4. The divisional court agreed to hear the argument by her lawyers and fixed the hearing date on September 18 at 10 a.m.