Suu Kyi’s Last Legal Recourse

14 November 2009: Lawyers representing Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday against the Nobel Laureate’s earlier conviction to an extended period of house arrest.

The motion represents the last hope for the popular leader to have her earlier conviction by a lower court overturned.

Suu Kyi, 64, who has been kept under house arrest for most of the last twenty years, was convicted to three years with hard labor in August by a Rangoon district court for harboring an American who intruded into her home in May. Her sentence was later commuted to an 18-month under house arrest by the regime.

Speaking to journalists Friday morning as he exited the Rangoon Divisional Court house, lead defense lawyer Nyan Win said that an appeal has been formally submitted to the Supreme Court and that the defense team is hoping for the best and waiting to see if the top court will decide to hear the appeal.

Earlier this week, a senior Burmese diplomat attending the ASEAN summit in Singapore reportedly said that Suu Kyi may be released soon.

That may be Suu Kyi’s only chance for freedom, if the top court upholds the district court’s earlier decision or simply refuses to hear the case.

Speaking in Tokyo, US President Barack Obama today called on the regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. US renewed call for her release follows the visit early this month to Burma by two high-level American diplomats.

Chinland Guardian