Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced to Another 18 Months House Arrest

By Linda Haywood; published on August 11, 2009 at 12:44 pm

The Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was today sentenced to three years in jail reduced to 18 months house arrest. The judges in Myanmar found that the Nobel peace laureate had violated the terms of her house arrest when an American man swam across a lake to warn her about an assassination attempt.

The American man, John Yettaw, was sentenced to seven years hard labour and Aung San Suu Kyi’s housemates and political aides, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, were also sentenced to 18 months house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi

The sentence was reduced on the orders of the Myanmar military leadership who have been in power since 1962. In a 1990 election, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy’s (NLD) won a landslide victory.

Ever since that defeat, the Burmese junta have refused to recognise the result and have kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 14 of the last 20 years. Elections due to be held in 2010 are a likely source of a renewed desire to keep Aung San Suu Kyi out of the public eye.

Posted by Linda Haywood on August 11, 2009. Filed under News,Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

News Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Burmese, Myanmar, National League for Democracy.

About Linda Haywood

Linda Haywood is Editor in Chief, and a founder of, The Global Herald.

Website: http://theglobalherald.com/