Aung San Suu Kyi’s court date postponed to June 5

Friday, 29 May 2009 21:21: New Delhi – The special court in Insein Prison on Friday extended the date for lawyers to submit arguments on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial until June 5, according to her lawyers. Kyi Win, a member of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team, said authorities sent them letters today informing them of the extension of the date for submission of arguments on the case.

“The information is that the arguments can be submitted latest by June 5,” Kyi Win told Mizzima.

Previously, the court had set June 1 as the deadline for the submission of arguments by lawyers.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently standing trial in Insein, is charged with breaching the regulations of her house arrest after she was visited by an uninvited American citizen at her lakeside residence.

The court has completed the hearing of all witnesses – both prosecution and defense – and is set to hold the hearing of final arguments by lawyers from both sides on June 5.

“After the hearing of the arguments the court will give the verdict,” Kyi Win confirmed.

Supporters and critics have accused the junta of masterminding the whole plot in order to continue detaining Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in order to move her out of the way of the junta’s planned 2010 election.

“I really don’t want to comment on the case and the court’s proceedings. But as a lawyer, I am hoping for the best,” Kyi Win said.

On Thursday, John William Yettaw, the American man, testified at the court in admission of his two visits to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, first on November 30, 2008 and the then on May 3 of this year. But he said in both cases he bumped into security guards, who despite knowing of his visits did not trouble him and let him go.

Yettaw’s testimony gives fresh provocation to the accusations by opposition activists and critics that the junta did have fair knowledge of his visits to the Burmese pro-democracy leader’s house on University Avenue.

Lawyers of the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate said that even under the regulations of her house arrest she is not guilty of committing any crime as the law only prohibits her from contacting people outside.

“In this case, she has not contacted anyone from outside, Yettaw made his visits on his own,” Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson and a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team, said.

Yettaw, in his testimony, told the court that he had visited the Burmese democracy icon because he had a vision that she will be assassinated by terrorists and that God had asked him to go and inform her and the government of Burma.

Nyan Win said legally no witnesses have been able to provide evidence to prove her guilty, “So, we are hopeful that she will win, but since the case is handled by the government we don’t know what will happen.”

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Source: http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/2222-aung-san-suu-kyis-court-date-postponed-to-june-5.html