Myanmar police testify at trial of Aung San Suu Kyi

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is accused of violating security laws after an American, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home earlier this month, a charge which could see her jailed for between three and five years.

Around 100 members of her opposition party gathered outside the notorious Insein prison near Yangon, where the trial is being held behind closed doors, watched by riot police manning a tight security cordon.

Yettaw and two female political aides who live with Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence, where she has been detained for most of the last 19 years, are also on trial.

“Police witnesses gave more testimony from their official complaints at the trial today,” a Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity, without providing any more information.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was expected to give further details after proceedings end for the day.

The first witness, a police colonel who filed the original complaint against her, gave evidence on Monday.

Of a total of 22 witnesses expected to testify, 21 are police officers.

The trial has led to renewed calls for the release of the 63-year-old, and late Monday Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which rarely criticizes the junta, finally joined in.

A statement issued by Thailand, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the bloc, expressed “grave concern about recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, given her fragile health.”

But Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ruled out imposing sanctions as some western countries have done, saying he hoped Myanmar “will consider ASEAN as friends.”

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