Myanmar's Suu Kyi sentenced to house detention

Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:30pm BST

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - A court in army-ruled Myanmar sentenced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months in detention on Tuesday, a verdict that drew condemnation abroad and will keep her off the political stage through next year's elections.

The court handed down a three-year prison term for violation of an internal security law. But that was immediately halved on the orders of the military government, which said the 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate could serve the time in her Yangon home.

Myanmar's home minister, Major-General Muang Oo, told the court moments after the verdict it had taken into account that Suu Kyi was the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, and "the need to preserve community peace and tranquillity" as the country prepares for multiparty elections.

The verdict drew criticism from leaders around the world. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called it "monstrous." French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was "brutal and unjust.

The U.S. State Department spokesman called the charges against Suu Kyi "spurious" and President Barack Obama said the conviction violates universal principles of human rights. Obama also called for Suu Kyi's immediate release.

The 27-country European Union is preparing sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, that include restricting trade with state-owned firms and barring top junta officials from entering the bloc, Sweden said.

Sarkozy said the measures "should particularly target the resources it profits directly from -- wood and ruby mining."

The U.N. Security Council met on Tuesday to discuss the verdict, with Western nations pressing for a statement condemning it. But the meeting was adjourned until Wednesday after China and other members asked to consult their capitals.

LEGITIMACY OF ELECTIONS

"She should not have been tried, and she should not have been convicted," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Myanmar authorities should begin an immediate dialogue with the opposition, Clinton told reporters on a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Otherwise the elections they have scheduled will have absolutely no legitimacy."

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called the conviction a "thinly veiled effort by the Burmese government to keep her on the sidelines for elections next year."

"They are afraid of a 64-year-old woman who probably weighs barely 100 pounds. But what she represents is an idea."

Crowley said this latest development would have a negative impact on a review the U.S. government is now conducting of its policy towards Myanmar.

Critics say the case was fabricated by the military to keep the charismatic Suu Kyi out of circulation ahead of the polls.

The charges stemmed from a mysterious incident in which an American, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in May and stayed there uninvited for two days. That breached the terms of her house arrest and broke a security law protecting the state from "subversive elements."

Yettaw, taken to hospital last week after suffering seizures, was sentenced to seven years' hard Labour in a parallel trial on three charges, including immigration offences

and "swimming in a non-swimming area."

His lawyer said the American suffered from epilepsy, diabetes and heart trouble. Yettaw, a Mormon, told the court God had sent him to warn Suu Kyi she would be assassinated by "terrorists."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the credibility of elections next year would remain in doubt, unless the junta freed Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

CALIBRATED VERDICT

The reduced sentence for Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, may have been an attempt to appease Myanmar's friends and neighbours -- China, India and Thailand, in particular -- whose trade has propped up a state crippled by international sanctions.

"The regime is calculating that by commuting it down to one-and-a-half years and by allowing her to serve in her home rather than in prison, most Asian states will be prepared to go along with that," said Ian Holliday, a Myanmar analyst from the University of Hong Kong.

Reflecting that assessment, Singapore's foreign ministry said it was "disappointed" by the guilty verdict.

"We are, however, happy that the Myanmar Government has exercised its sovereign prerogative to grant amnesty for half her sentence and that she will be placed under house arrest rather than imprisoned."

India urged Myanmar to speed political reforms, saying it hoped the issue of release of political prisoners would be addressed as part of that process.

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(Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong, by Partick Worsnip at the UN and by other Reuters bureaux; Writing by Martin Petty, editing by Anthony Boadle)



スー・チーさん軟禁１年半に、軍政決定　総選挙から排除

2009年8月11日19時29分

　【バンコク＝藤谷健】ミャンマー（ビルマ）の民主化運動指導者アウン・サン・スー・チーさん(64)が、米国人を無断で自宅に滞在させたとして国家防御法違反の罪に問われた裁判の判決公判が11日、最大都市ヤンゴン郊外の特別法廷であり、労働を伴う３年の実刑判決が言い渡された。だが、直後に入廷した軍事政権の内相が判決を１年６カ月に減刑し、自宅軟禁にするとの政権の決定を伝えた。

　スー・チーさんは約３カ月ぶりに自宅に戻され、これまで通算で14年近くに及ぶ拘束・軟禁状態がさらに続くことになった。軍政側には１年半の軟禁で、来年予定される総選挙からスー・チーさんを排除する意図があるのは明らかで、国際社会からは「悲しみと怒りを感じる」（ブラウン英首相）などと批判が相次いでいる。

　決定は、軍政トップのタン・シュエ国家平和発展評議会議長の名前で伝えられた。軍政側には、同罪では法定で最も軽い３年の刑とし、スー・チーさんを収監せず自宅軟禁にする「配慮」を見せることで国際社会の非難を和らげる狙いがあるとみられるが、活動の自由が奪われることに変わりはない。

　裁判で検察側は、スー・チーさんが自宅軟禁中の５月初め、湖を泳いで侵入してきた米国人男性を滞在させ、食事を与えたことが外部との接触を禁じた国家防御法の規定に抵触すると主張。弁護側は侵入を許した警察に責任があるとして無罪を主張していた。

　弁護側は控訴も検討するとしているが、軍政下で判決が覆る可能性は極めて低い。またこの日、米国人男性に懲役刑を含む７年の実刑が言い渡されたほか、スー・チーさんの自宅で働く家事手伝いの女性２人も１年半の自宅軟禁に置かれることが決まった。

　軍政が掲げる「民政移管プロセス」では来年に総選挙を実施し、新政府を発足させて民政移管するとしている。しかし、多くの民主化運動家が「政治犯」として投獄されており、公正な選挙を求める国連や民主化勢力などは、総選挙前にスー・チーさんを含む全政治犯を解放するよう軍政に強く求めていた。

　スー・チーさんを再び自宅軟禁としたことで、「民政移管プロセス」の正当性に一層大きな疑問符がつくことになった。