Myanmar junta puts Aung San Suu Kyi on trial

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial amid tight security at a notorious prison Monday, facing up to five more years in detention on charges of harbouring a US man who swam to her home.
Dozens of supporters of the ailing Nobel Peace Prize laureate gathered near Insein prison outside Yangon as the hearing got under way, one of whom was arrested by the phalanx of riot police posted behind barbed wire blockades.
French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on Monday appealed for the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been jailed and put on trial at a notorious Yangon prison.
The wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the Myanmar government to free the 63-year-old pro-democracy activist in an open letter made public by the Elysee presidential palace.
Japan told Myanmar Monday it had “profound concerns” about the trial of the Southeast Asian nation’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the foreign ministry here.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win, the ministry said in a press release. The ruling junta pushed ahead with the trial of the 63-year-old despite the threat of tougher sanctions from the European Union over the charges against her, which allege that she violated the terms of her house arrest.
“We can definitely win according to the law. She didn’t do anything wrong,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, told AFP after the court was adjourned.
Lawyers for the pro-democracy leader opened the proceedings with an application for the trial to be held in open court, which the judges rejected, Nyan Win said.