Aung San Suu Kyi

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi trades barbs with junta

| From afp.com

Myanmar's military regime accused Aung San Suu Kyi Sunday of covering up a visit to her home by a US man which led to her trial, as the pro-democracy icon hit back against the "bullying" junta.

The claim by the ruling generals is the latest defiant reaction to the storm of international outrage over the case against the Nobel laureate, who faces up to five years' jail on charges of breaching her house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi has proclaimed her innocence at the closed trial being held at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison, insisting that she only offered "temporary shelter" to American John Yettaw after he swam to her lakeside house.

"It is no doubt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has committed a cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant to the authorities concerned," Major General Aye Myint, Myanmar's deputy defence minister, told a security forum in Singapore.

"Thus there was no option but to open legal proceedings in accordance with the law," Aye Myint said. "She permitted him to stay.... She communicated, provided him food and shelter."

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention, met with her lawyers at Insein prison on Saturday ahead of final arguments in the case which are due to be heard on Friday.

Her opposition party said Sunday that she was upset that Myanmar authorities had entered her residential compound without permission to stage a reconstruction of Yettaw's visit for the purposes of the trial.

"Aung San Suu Kyi said she is not completely satisfied as Mr Yettaw and the authorities went into her compound last week for a demonstration (of how he got into the property)," party spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

"It was not in accordance with the law. She said it was unjust bullying," added Nyan Win, who is also part of her legal team.

Yettaw, a 53-year-old Mormon and former US military veteran, was arrested on May 6 after swimming to Aung San Suu Kyi's house using a pair of homemade flippers and spending two nights there.

He has told the court that he had had a vision that Aung San Suu Kyi would be assassinated by "terrorists" and was told by God to warn both the opposition leader and the Myanmar government.

Aung San Suu Kyi said in a statement to the court this week that she could not be held responsible as the junta had failed to boost security despite her having reported that Yettaw made a previous visit to the house in November 2008.

However Nyan Win quoted the democracy campaigner as saying that she "has no grudge to Mr Yettaw and his family."

International critics accuse Myanmar's military regime of trumping up the charges in a bid to keep her locked up ahead of elections in 2010, as the latest six-year period of her house arrest expired on Wednesday.

But in his speech to regional security officials and experts, Myanmar's Aye Myint said the case against Aung San Suu Kyi was an internal matter.

"Countries should refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Myanmar that will affect peace and security of the region," said Aye Myint.

Ann Taylor, Britain's minister for international defence and security, said at the meeting earlier Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi should be released.

Myanmar last week hit back at rare criticism from the normally placid fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the treatment of the democracy campaigner.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, said ASEAN leaders would discuss Myanmar at a summit in South Korea on June 1-2.

"ASEAN leaders will meet and discuss an issue that has received international attention -- about a neighbouring country -- for further cooperation," the Thai premier said in his weekly television programme.