'Suu Kyi house arrest breach schemed'
Admin - May 22, 09
http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/canada-court-finds-rwandan-guilty-of-war-crimes-2174
May 22, 2009 (Press TV) - Myanmar accused "anti-government elements" of plotting the visit of an American to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under trial for house arrest breach.
The ruling junta said on Friday that the American who swam across a lake to visit her was either a "secret agent or her boyfriend", attempting to rally international support for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
On May 4, 53-year-old American national, John William Yettaw, used homemade flippers to swim across a lake to Aung San Suu Kyi's house and stayed there for two days before being arrested. Yettaw, along with two female aides who live with Suu Kyi, is now facing charges of intrusion.
Foreign "Minister Nyan Win expressed his opinion that... it was likely that this incident was timely trumped up, to intensify international pressure on Myanmar, by internal and external anti-government elements," Myanmar's New Light reported.
However, Yettaw told the court he swam across the lake after having a premonition Aung San Suu Kyi would be assassinated. His claim drew criticism from members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) who described him as a "fool" and "adventurer".
Myanmar stepped up security at Insein Prison in Yangon where the behind-closed-doors trial was being held on Friday, a day after hundreds of NLD supporters took to street in a show of support for their leader.
On Wednesday, the junta allowed diplomats and a few journalists to attend the hearing for one day and the trial returned to a closed-door session on Thursday.
The new charges pushed against Suu Kyi -- who has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years -- just weeks before the expiry of her latest six-year term on May 27 has raised condemnations from critics, saying the junta aims to stop her from running in the next year elections scheduled for 2010. If convicted, Suu Kyi could be jailed for up to five years.