Suu Kyi to testify as Myanmar opens court again
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, May 26 (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will take the stand at her trial on Tuesday, her lawyers said, after prosecutors raced to wrap up a case that has drawn international outrage.
The Nobel Peace laureate, who faces up to five years in jail, was set to launch her defence after prosecutors abruptly dropped their eight remaining witnesses on Monday, fuelling speculation that the trial could end within days.
Suu Kyi's latest house arrest order expires on Wednesday and the 63-year-old is widely expected to be found guilty on charges of violating her detention after allowing an uninvited American intruder to stay in her home.
"This incident happened while authorities were treating her with leniency," Home Ministry official Myint Thein told reporters ahead of Tuesday's session inside Yangon's tightly-guarded Insein prison.
Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi's lawyers, complained they were unable to meet her before she testifies. "It could be they have already written the verdict," he said after Monday's session.
Diplomats and Burmese journalists in Yangon will be allowed inside the court for a second time since the trial began on May 18. As before, they cannot take cameras or recording equipment.
The West has condemned the trial as a sham to keep the charismatic leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in detention until after 2010 elections. Suu Kyi has been incarcerated for more than 13 of the past 19 years.
The regime insists Suu Kyi will get a fair trial, but analysts say the courts have a long history of stretching laws to suit the generals.
Diplomats who were given a brief glimpse of the trial last week said it appeared "scripted".
SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS
Four defence witnesses will testify after Suu Kyi. They include Win Tin, the longest serving political prisoner until his release last year, and Tin Oo, the NLD vice chairman who has been under house arrest since 2003.
"If the hearing continues like this, the entire process will come to an end in three or four days," Nyan Win said.
Suu Kyi and two female housemates are charged with breaking the terms of her detention under a security law that protects the state from "subversive elements". They have pleaded not guilty.
John Yettaw, the 53-year-old American who used homemade flippers to swim to Suu Kyi's home on May 4 because he had a dream that her life was in danger, told his lawyers on Monday that he wanted to change his plea to guilty, Nyan Win said.
Yettaw is charged with immigration violations, illegal swimming and breaking the same draconian security law.
In another sign that Suu Kyi may face prison, witnesses said the heavy metal barricades on the street outside her home have been removed, although police remained.
"It is a clear indication that she will not be sent back home after the trial," said senior NLD official Han Tha Myint.
The generals have ignored Western threats of tougher sanctions since the trial began, but they lashed out at neighbour Thailand for meddling in Myanmar's affairs.
The subject of their scorn was Thailand's statement last week on behalf of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar, that the trial threatened the regime's "honour and credibility".
Bangkok defended the Suu Kyi statement on Tuesday, saying it "reflects the desire for the process of national reconciliation in Myanmar to move forward on the basis of inclusiveness". (Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alex Richardson)
