Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Burmese authorities forbidden the meeting, scheduled for today, between Aung San Suu Kyi and her lawyers. The Nobel Laureate and her legal team were to discuss the final plea for July 24 hearing in Court, the last day of the trail against leader of the opposition.
The team of lawyers had prepared a draft of 23 pages, which clarified the elements in favour of her defence. Nyan Win, the "Lady’s" lawyer, received a phone call in which the authorities announced that "the court had denied the meeting”. He stresses that the final plea is based "on the previous meetings [with Aung San Suu Kyi]" and adds: "we will make the best of a bad game."
Aung San Suu Kyi - recently awarded the Mahatma Gandhi prize - is in jail since May 14 last for violating the terms of house arrest, having hosted for "humanitarian" reasons the American citizen John Yettaw at her home. If found guilty, the Nobel Peace Prize winner - who has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest - will be sentenced to a further five years in prison or house arrest. The military junta, in power in Myanmar since 1962, aims to prevent her taking part in the next general elections scheduled in 2010.
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, on an official visit to Thailand where the Asean Summit is currently being held, also spoke out on the issue of Burma. The Clinton expressed the concern of the United States administration over the transfer of nuclear technology from North Korea to Myanmar.