Aung San Suu Kyi meets lawyers

by Myint Maung
Friday, 16 October 2009 18:54

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Detained Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday afternoon met her legal counsels and went over plans to appeal at the High Court.

Nyan Win and Khin Htay Kywe, two of Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers, who are drafting an appeal letter to be submitted to the High court, on Friday, visited her for one and-a-half hours at her lakeside villa on Rangoon’s University Avenue and discussed the appeal against the verdict of a district court.

“I went along with Daw Khin Htay Kywe. Initially we discussed the appeal,” Nyan Win, who is also the spokesperson for her political party, told Mizzima.

On August 11, the district court in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison handed down a three year sentence to the Nobel Peace Laureate on charges of violating her previous detention regulations, by allowing an American into her house. But an executive order by the Burmese junta’s military supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe halved the sentence and allowed her to serve time at her home.

Following the verdict, the Burmese pro-democracy leader’s legal team filed a petition at the divisional court. But the court decided that the verdict was in keeping with the law and found no reasons for it to be revised.

Nyan Win said he and the National League for Democracy party leader held further discussions on the recent developments, including her meeting with diplomats from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia and also the meeting between the NLD leaders and European Union delegation on Wednesday.

“Later we discussed her meetings with the government’s Liaison Minister Aung Kyi and her meeting with the three western diplomats. But she said so far there is no news to be released,” Nyan Win added.

In an unexpected gesture, Burma’s military strongman Snr Gen Than Shwe responded to Aung San Suu Kyi’s proposal last month offering to cooperate in working for sanctions to be lifted and gave in to her request to meet diplomats from US, UK and Australia.

Following the meeting the diplomats also met NLD central executive committee members and briefed them on their meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi.

In response to the Burmese democracy icon’s proposal the junta arranged meetings with the Liaison Minister Aung Kyi.

On Wednesday, European Union delegates visited the NLD headquarters in Rangoon’s Shwegondine Street and asked them about their opinion on Aung San Suu Kyi’s talks with the regime and her offer to help lift sanctions and also the party’s reason behind demanding a revision of the 2008 constitution.

In response, the NLD leaders said, they are not seeking power-sharing with the government but are asking for a revision of the 2008 constitution, which was drafted in a one-sided manner by the junta and their hand-picked representatives and approved in a referendum, which opposition groups said was ‘rigged’.