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WASHINGTON - The United States said Thursday that pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi should be released immediately after Myanmar's military brought new charges against her.
"I am ready to say something more than just that ... we're troubled," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters when asked if he would go further than a statement he released earlier in the day.
"Our bottom line is that she shouldn't be under house arrest. She shouldn't be, and even less so in prison," Kelly said. "Our bottom line is ... she should be released immediately."
Myanmar's military junta charged Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday with breaching the terms of her house arrest over a bizarre incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house.
The 63-year-old goes on trial on Monday on the charges, which carry a jail term of up to five years and would stretch her detention past its supposed expiry date this month and through controversial elections due in 2010.
Aung San Suu Kyi would not be allowed to return home but would be held at a special house on the grounds of Insein Prison while proceedings were under way, her lawyer Kyi Win added.
In a statement released earlier, Kelly said: "We have seen this report (about the new charges), which is certainly troubling if true."
- AFP /ls
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