Myanmar authorities block lawyers from meeting Aung San Suu Kyi before trial hearing

Myanmar deny lawyers access to Aung San Suu Kyi

YANGON, Myanmar — The legal team of Myanmar’s jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was denied access to the 64-year-old Nobel laureate on Wednesday, two days before her trial is to resume for final arguments, her lawyer said.

Authorities in the military-ruled country denied permission for Suu Kyi’s lawyers to meet her to finalize the draft of their 23-page closing argument, said Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi’s defense lawyers as well as spokesman for her party.

“This (refusal by authorities) shows that the judicial system in the country is very weak,” said Nyan Win. “We need to see our clients to finalize the draft, and it was very bad that the right has been denied.”

Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an uninvited American man who swam secretly to her lakeside home and stayed for two days. She is being detained at Myanmar’s notorious Insein Prison.

The opposition leader, who has been under house arrest for about 14 of the last 20 years, faces a possible five-year prison term.

The refusal to allow legal access to Suu Kyi comes as Asian, U.S., and European ministers — including the top diplomat from Myanmar — meet in neighboring Thailand for security talks at which the military regime’s human rights record is in the spotlight.

The trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and from Suu Kyi’s local supporters, who worry the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through elections planned for next year.

Also on trial, and facing the same charges as Suu Kyi, are two female members of her party who were her sole companions under house arrest. The American, John Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, is charged with trespassing.

Yettaw has pleaded not guilty and explained in court that he had a dream that Suu Kyi would be assassinated and he had gone to warn her.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.

Suu Kyi’s opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar’s generals refused to relinquish power.