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U.S. says Myanmar trial outrageous, vote illegitimate

Other News Materials 21 May 2009 02:05 (UTC +04:00)

Myanmar's trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is outrageous and its planned 2010 election will be illegitimate because of its treatment of the opposition leader, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

"It is outrageous that they are trying her and that they continue to hold her because of her political popularity," Clinton said of Suu Kyi, who is charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest after an American intruder was arrested for spending two days at her lakeside home in Yangon.

Suu Kyi appeared in court on Wednesday at the latest in a string of trials that critics say are intended to eliminate political opposition before Myanmar's planned elections in 2010, the final stages of the ruling junta's "road map to democracy."

"They intend to hold elections in 2010, which from the beginning will be illegitimate because of the way that they have treated her," Clinton told a congressional hearing.

"It's our hope that this baseless trial will end with a quick release of her and ... a return to some political involvement, eventually, by her and her party," she added.

In a rare concession from Myanmar's military government after days of international outrage at Suu Kyi's treatment, some 30 diplomats and 10 Burmese journalists were allowed to watch the 45-minute hearing in Yangon's notorious Insein Central Prison.

Despite spending more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention, it is the first time Suu Kyi has faced the special court that has played a key role in the generals' suppression of dissent over the years in the former Burma.

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