Yangan, July 24: The trial on security-related charges of Myanmar opposition leader A woman tries to control her umbrella at a sea front in Mumbai July 23, 2009.
iArko Dattai was due to resume on Friday, with no indications from the country’s military regime that it would heed international calls to free her.
At an Asia-Pacific security forum on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the prospect of better relations with the United States, but said that depended in part on the fate of Suu Kyi.
Asked if Clinton’s comments would have any impact on the regime’s attitude towards the case and the political situation in general, one of her lawyers, Nyan Win, told reporters on Friday: “I don’t think so. As for her, she is preparing for the worst.”
Her legal team was allowed to see her on Thursday to prepare final arguments after being denied access on Wednesday.
Recent hearings in the trial have been held behind closed doors in Yangon’s Insein Prison, but a European embassy source said diplomats had been told by the authorities to report to the prison on Friday, and they assumed they would be allowed in.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. (0730 GMT). Lawyers are not expecting a verdict on Friday.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, 64, faces five years in prison if found guilty of breaking a draconian security law that protects the state from “subversive elements”.
There has been no official response to Clinton’s comments this week but state media, seen as a mouthpiece for the junta, have shown no sign of compromise on the subject of Suu Kyi.
Rights groups say there are more than 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar but a commentary carried by three state-controlled newspapers on Thursday described them as common criminals, guilty of undermining stability.
“Daw Suu Kyi, like them, is not a political prisoner, but the person who is on trial for breaching an existing law,” it said.
–Agencies