YANGON: Lawyers for Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday that they were "hoping for the best" as they braced for a court ruling on the Nobel laureate's appeal against her extended house arrest.
Judges are set to announce on Friday whether they will uphold the pro-democracy leader's conviction over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her house, earning her an extra 18 months in detention.
"Of course we are hoping for the best," said Nyan Win, her lawyer and spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
"We have prepared what we need. The result will depend on the court and we are hoping for the immediate release of Daw Suu," he told AFP. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.
The military-ruled country faces intense international pressure to free the 64-year-old Suu Kyi, especially from the United States, which Wednesday held the highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly a decade.
The Obama administration's decision to re-engage with Myanmar comes after years of stalemate proved unproductive but Washington has warned against lifting sanctions until the junta moves on democracy.
"Lifting or easing sanctions at the outset of a dialogue without meaningful progress on our concerns would be a mistake," said Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs, who met the Myanmar delegation.
He said that the US side laid out clear demands for the regime, including freeing political prisoners such as Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest.
Her NLD won the country's last elections in 1990, which the ruling generals refused to acknowledge, and her extended house arrest now keeps her off the scene for elections promised by the regime for 2010.
This has added to widespread criticism that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
In August a court at Yangon's notorious Insein prison originally sentenced her to three years' hard labour but junta chief Than Shwe reduced the sentence to 18 months house arrest.
Two female assistants living with Suu Kyi received the same sentence and have also appealed.
John Yettaw, the eccentric American who triggered the debacle by swimming to her lakeside mansion in May, was sentenced to seven years' hard labour but the regime freed him following a visit by US Senator Jim Webb.
By Channel News Asia
Posted: 01 October 2009 1828 hrs/(AFP/sc)
Judges are set to announce on Friday whether they will uphold the pro-democracy leader's conviction over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her house, earning her an extra 18 months in detention.
"Of course we are hoping for the best," said Nyan Win, her lawyer and spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
"We have prepared what we need. The result will depend on the court and we are hoping for the immediate release of Daw Suu," he told AFP. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.
The military-ruled country faces intense international pressure to free the 64-year-old Suu Kyi, especially from the United States, which Wednesday held the highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly a decade.
The Obama administration's decision to re-engage with Myanmar comes after years of stalemate proved unproductive but Washington has warned against lifting sanctions until the junta moves on democracy.
"Lifting or easing sanctions at the outset of a dialogue without meaningful progress on our concerns would be a mistake," said Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs, who met the Myanmar delegation.
He said that the US side laid out clear demands for the regime, including freeing political prisoners such as Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest.
Her NLD won the country's last elections in 1990, which the ruling generals refused to acknowledge, and her extended house arrest now keeps her off the scene for elections promised by the regime for 2010.
This has added to widespread criticism that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
In August a court at Yangon's notorious Insein prison originally sentenced her to three years' hard labour but junta chief Than Shwe reduced the sentence to 18 months house arrest.
Two female assistants living with Suu Kyi received the same sentence and have also appealed.
John Yettaw, the eccentric American who triggered the debacle by swimming to her lakeside mansion in May, was sentenced to seven years' hard labour but the regime freed him following a visit by US Senator Jim Webb.
By Channel News Asia
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