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Myanmar opposition leader could be freed in six months

Other News Materials 21 July 2008 05:01 (UTC +04:00)

Myanmar has indicated that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be freed in six months, because current laws limit her maximum detention period to six years, news reports said Monday. ( dpa )

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said that his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, said that Suu Kyi has "about half a year's time left," according to The Straits Times.

When asked if this meant that the Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner would be released, Yeo said, "I think that is not an inaccurate inference."

Suu Kyi has spent 13 years in detention since 1989.

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers called Sunday on Myanmar's ruling junta to release Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

On the eve of the formal start of the 41st ASEAN ministerial meetings in Singapore, the ministers of the 10-member regional bloc expressed disappointment over Suu Kyi's continued detention.

"The foreign ministers expressed their deep disappointment that Aung San Suu Kyi's detention under house arrest had been extended by the Myanmar government," Yeo told reporters after the officials met over dinner.

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