Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The final hearing in the trial against Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader in jail since last May on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest, is due to take place today in Yangon. The session is scheduled to begin at 2 pm local time (8.30 in Italy), according to her lawyers it is "unlikely" that the ruling will be issued the same day.
Prosecution and defence will present their final plea. Policy experts point out that the Burmese military regime has been realized - albeit with some delay - that the arrest of the Nobel for peace has raised the disapproval of the international community.
Yesterday, defence lawyers were granted permission to meet the "Lady". At first, the meeting between the lawyers and their client was to have taken place on July 22, but the court in Yangon denied permission. Nyan Win, one of the lawyers leading the National League for Democracy (NLD), reports that they discussed the final plea to put before the courts: "We thoroughly examined it, 20 pages in all, changing what is necessary" .
According to the defence, the charges under which the accused woman is being tried refer to the 1974 Constitution, which was repealed in 1988 when current junta led by Than Shwe rose to power. For this reason she has not committed any crime, because the norm in so no longer in force. However, all indications lead to believe that the "Lady" will be condemned.
Aung San Suu Kyi 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 Laureate – 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 for 2010.