11 Aug 2009

GUILTY!

Aung San Suu Kyi will spent the next year and a half in detention after a court today found the Burmese pro-democracy leader guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest.

aung-san-suu-kyi

Reports from the Burmese capital, Rangoon, said the court had imposed a three-year sentence, which the country's military leaders immediately commuted to 18 months on the orders of military government which said she could serve the sentence in her Rangoon home.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, had been accused of harbouring an American, Jon Yettaw, who swam uninvited to her lakeside compound last month.

Observers had expected a guilty verdict at the end of a trial that has drawn widespread condemnation.

Opponents of the Burmese junta, which has ruled with an iron fist since 1962, say the verdict is designed to keep Aung San Suu Kyi out of the public eye during elections scheduled for early next year.

guardian.co.uk