“I’m afraid the verdict will be painfully obvious,” Suu Kyi said, according to several diplomats who heard her comments in court.
Diplomats Say Suu Kyi Expects ‘Guilty’ Verdict
The defense team for Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has delivered its final arguments, closing the case ahead of a Friday verdict the Nobel laureate has said will be “painfully obvious.”
The high-profile trial that began in May has drawn international condemnation from rights activists, world leaders and celebrities who have called for her immediate release. But neither outside pressure nor the possibility of closer ties with the West has deterred the ruling junta, which appears determined to find her guilty and keep her behind bars through elections planned for next year.
Judge Thaung Nyunt said on Tuesday that the court would make a ruling on Friday, according to defense attorney Nyan Win. The lawyer said he preferred not to speculate on the outcome, but that he had “never seen any defendant in a political case (in Burma) being set free.” He did not directly describe Suu Kyi’s trial as politically motivated.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers had not been expecting a ruling until next month, and it was not immediately clear why the court moved the date for the verdict forward.
The detained 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate could be imprisoned for five years if she is convicted on charges that she violated the terms of her house arrest by harboring an American visitor — John William Yettaw — who swam uninvited to her lakeside home and stayed for two days.
Diplomats from the US, Japan, Singapore and Thailand were allowed to attend the last day of the trial on Tuesday, one of the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing embassy protocol.
Suu Kyi — who has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years — thanked the diplomats during the hearing “for trying to promote a just outcome,” but said she was not optimistic.
“I’m afraid the verdict will be painfully obvious,” Suu Kyi said, according to several diplomats who heard her comments in court.
Suu Kyi’s defense team delivered its final arguments in the trial on Tuesday — a day after the prosecution closed its case — but was not allowed to put a foreign ministry official on the stand, Nyan Win said. He said the court ruled that the ministry official’s testimony was “not important.” The court rejected all but two of the defense’s witnesses.
The opposition leader’s lawyers — who have not contested the facts of the case — have argued all along that the law used by authorities against Suu Kyi is invalid because it applies to a constitution abolished two decades ago. They also say that government guards stationed outside Suu Kyi’s compound should be held responsible for any intrusion in her property.
Suu Kyi emerged as a democracy icon during a popular uprising in 1988 that the military — which has ruled since 1962 — brutally suppressed. Her party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar’s generals refused to relinquish power.
Yettaw is charged as an abettor in violating the terms of Suu Kyi’s house arrest and could also be sent to prison for five years. He has pleaded not guilty, and explained in court his aim had been to warn Suu Kyi because he feared she would be assassinated.
ap
