BURMESE opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told a court yesterday that although she gave "temporary shelter" to an uninvited American earlier this month, she had not violated her house arrest and was merely trying to shield the man and her guards from punishment.
Testifying for the first time in the case, Suu Kyi appeared frail and pale but managed an occasional smile. A judge questioned her for less than half an hour about John W Yettaw, who swam uninvited to her lakeside house.
The 63-year-old Nobel Peac
e laureate faces a possible jail term of up to five years in a trial that has brought global outrage.
The charge against Suu Kyi is widely considered a pretext to keep her detained ahead of elections the military government has planned for next year. She pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Burma's courts operate under the influence of the military and almost always deal harshly with political dissidents.
Suu Kyi's latest house arrest – extended every year since 2003 – was due to expire this week, and a police official told diplomats on Tuesday the government had considered releasing her on "humanitarian grounds".
But the junta reversed that decision when the "unexpected incident of the intrusion of the American happened", Brigadier General Myint Thein said.
She has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial, most at her dilapidated Rangoon home.
"Thank you for your concern and support. It is always good to see people from the outside world," she told reporters and diplomats before being escorted out of the court.
Suu Kyi acknowledges that she allowed Yettaw, 53, to stay after he entered her house uninvited and subsequently said he was too ill to leave immediately.
