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YANGON: Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will protest her innocence when she goes on trial starting Monday, her party said as the ruling military government freed her personal doctor from detention.
The 63-year-old met her lawyer on Saturday at the notorious prison where she has been held since last week on charges of violating house arrest by sheltering an American man who swam across a lake to her residence.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner faces up to five years in jail if convicted on the charges, which would keep her behind bars during controversial elections planned by Myanmar's generals for next year.
A spokesman for her National League for Democracy party said she had discussed the case when lawyer Kyi Win visited Insein prison near Yangon. The trial is expected to take place inside the jail.
"They discussed the charges and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that she didn't commit any crimes and she is ready to talk about it in court," the spokesman, Nyan Win, told AFP Sunday. Daw is a term of respect in Burmese language.
"She asked him to tell friends and colleagues that she is in good health," he said.
Aung Thein, another lawyer for the party who applied to represent her at the trial, said on Saturday that he had been disbarred by the authorities a day earlier.
Myanmar has faced global pressure to free Aung San Suu Kyi and drop the charges, which were filed less than two weeks before the latest period of her detention was due to expire.
She has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest.
However the government on Saturday released her doctor, Tin Myo Win, nearly two weeks after he was held while trying to get access to her following the incident with US national John Yettaw.
"He was released from detention (Saturday night). According to him his health situation is good," one of Tin Myo Win's family members told AFP, asking not to be identified.
It was not clear if Tin Myo Win would be allowed to visit Aung San Suu Kyi. She was placed on an intravenous drip at her house on May 8 because she could not eat, had low blood pressure and was dehydrated.
The doctor's release came days after the US government demanded that Myanmar should grant him "immediate" access to see Aung San Suu Kyi amid fears for her health.
The Washington-based US Campaign for Burma meanwhile released what it said was the police report which led to the charges against her, in which it accuses Aung San Suu Kyi of offering Yettaw food and drink when he stayed at her house between May 3 and 5.
It says that the former army veteran made a prior visit in November 2008 when Yettaw, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, left a copy of the Book of Mormon at her house for her to read, it said.
Yettaw also faces trial on Monday.
The Philippines on Sunday added to the chorus of condemnation, saying it was "outraged" by Aung San Suu Kyi's treatment.
"The Philippine government is deeply troubled and outraged over the filing of trumped-up charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and her transfer to Insein prison," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.
It joined Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore among Myanmar's regional neighbours in speaking out, but there has been no official statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.
ASEAN has long been criticised for failing to press Myanmar to take stronger steps in contrast to the tough sanctions on the country which have been imposed by Western nations.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and the generals refused to let Aung San Suu Kyi take office after her party won a landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990.
The government has promised polls in 2010, but they will be held under a constitution brought in last year that enshrines a role for the military in any government. Critics say the elections are likely to be heavily rigged.
- AFP/yt
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