» 01/25/2010 16:34 MYANMAR Aung San Suu Kyi released at end of her sentence in November, Myanmar minister says Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo announces opposition leader’s release. This will bar her from taking part in the election called by the military junta. Ms Suu Kyi will purge her entire sentence. An opposition leader says the announcement is “nothing new or extraordinary.”
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Aung San Suu Kyi will be released when her house arrest ends in November. Tin Oo, the National League for Democracy’s number two and a close adviser of Ms Suu Kyi, is also set to be released, Myanamr’s Home Affairs Minister, Major Maung Oo, said last Thursday at a meeting in Kyaukpadaung, 565 kilometres north of Yangon. For the country’s opposition, the announcement is “nothing new or extraordinary”.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. In August of last year, the ruling military junta extended the measure for another 18 months because Ms Suu Kyi hosted a US national in her home without authorisation.
It quickly became apparent that the decision was a pretext to prevent Myanmar’s main opposition leader from taking part in this year’s October elections.
Releasing the Nobel Prize laureate in November will come after the election and will prevent her from leading her party in the election campaign.
Home Affairs Minister Major Maung Oo announced that Tin Oo, the National League for Democracy’s second in command, would also be released on 134 February.
He insisted that his government was committed to a “free and fair” election.
However, news about the release has not been independently confirmed.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy and a legal 8adviser to Ms Suu Kyi, said the Major Maung Oo’s announcement was "nothing new or extraordinary."
"If the media reports were correct, hopes for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's earlier release under the executive order were dashed," he said.
