Pro-Democracy Leader Goes on Trial in Myanmar
New York Times
By SETH MYDANS and MARK McDONALD
May 18, 2009
BANGKOK — Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, went on trial Monday in a mostly procedural hearing as hundreds of police officers and army soldiers blocked crowds of protesters, according to reports from news agencies and opposition exile groups. Several foreign diplomats were also prevented from entering the court where Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi faced charges that could bring a prison term of up to five years, according to the reports. A United States Embassy official was allowed to enter because another defendant in the trial is an American man who swam across a lake early this month and spent a night in Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s house.
Though the American, John Yettaw, apparently acted without her knowledge, his adventure led to charges that she violated the terms of the house arrest that has limited her outside contacts for 13 of the past 19 years. The trial, with its peculiar origin, was the most aggressive action in recent years the ruling junta has taken against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has remained the symbolic leader of an opposition that continues to resurface after repeated crackdowns. Most analysts saw the charges as a pretext for extending her latest six-year term of house arrest in advance of a general election next spring in which the junta aims to formalize the dominance of the military under a new constitution.
Some analysts also say the charges marked the beginning of a broader clampdown on political dissent and pro-democracy figures in advance of the election…
I post this article for a reason other than just my own ongoing interest in Burma. When the riots occurred in 2007, and the monks were marching in the streets, I felt a sense of outrage. How could such oppression and injustice still be going on in a civilized 21st century world? But reading this article today, I couldn’t feel the same way. My mind was immediately drawn to the US torture policy, our other "secret" programs, and the way we invaded Iraq. Those policies have taken something away from me personally, some sense of pride that America represented a vision of hope for the rest of the world.
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