Originally published on the CGS blog on August 11, 2009.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of violating security laws by a Burmese Court on August 11. She has been sentenced to 18 months house arrest. Ms. Suu Kyi is a 64 year old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy party, the main opposition party to Burma’s military dictatorship. She had been arrested for having a visitor while serving a previous sentence of house arrest. That supposed visitor, John Yettaw, an American, was also arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison, including four of hard labor.
International condemnation of the verdict was immediate. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the verdict a “sham,” stating that the trial was purely political. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for the release of both Ms. Suu Kyi and John Yettaw. Critics of the trial believe that the Burmese government is attempting to prevent Suu Kyi from running in Burma’s elections in 2010.
BBC editor Kate McGeown sees a small sign of encouragement in the verdict though. According to McGeown, the fact that the court did not give Ms. Suu Kyi the maximum sentence of five years hard labor, shows that Burma’s government can be pressured, at least to some extent, by the international community. Unfortunately, the government has still succeeded in keeping Ms. Suu Kyi from running for office in the 2010 elections.
