Suu Kyi gets 18 months under house arrest
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
YANGON, Aug 11 (AFP): Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was Tuesday ordered to stay under house arrest for 18 months after a prison court convicted the Nobel laureate at the end of her internationally condemned trial.
The sentence provoked instant anger from Britain and other countries because it means that the 64-year-old opposition leader will remain in detention during elections promised by Myanmar's iron-fisted ruling junta next year.
The court at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison sentenced her to three years imprisonment and hard labour for breaching the terms of her house arrest following an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside residence in May.
The sentence provoked instant anger from Britain and other countries because it means that the 64-year-old opposition leader will remain in detention during elections promised by Myanmar's iron-fisted ruling junta next year.
The court at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison sentenced her to three years imprisonment and hard labour for breaching the terms of her house arrest following an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside residence in May.