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YANGON: A court in military-ruled Myanmar ruled Tuesday that Aung San Suu Kyi can have an extra defence witness at her trial, but upheld a ban on testimony from two senior political figures, her party said.
The Nobel-winning pro-democracy icon faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which US national John Yettaw swam to her lakeside home in May.
Judges at her internationally condemned trial, which is being held behind closed doors in the notorious Insein prison, last month disqualified three of her four witnesses and her lawyers had appealed to a higher court.
"The court accepted one more of Aung San Suu Kyi's witness, lawyer Khin Moe Moe," said Nyan Win, the spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), outside the divisional court in central Yangon.
"We will go to a higher court for the other two witnesses. As soon as we get a copy of today's judgment we will submit our new appeal," added Nyan Win, who is also a member of her legal team.
Security was heavy outside the court for the 10-minute hearing, with about 20 police trucks surrounding the building and officials preventing the public from gathering nearby.
The two witnesses who remain banned are Win Tin, a dissident journalist who was Myanmar's longest serving prisoner until his release in September, and Tin Oo, the detained deputy leader of the NLD.
"Although we partially won today, we do not feel like it. They did not give us the answer we wanted - in reality, they should accept Win Tin and Tin Oo," Nyan Win said.
"What is the difference between them and Khin Moe Moe? They are senior members of the NLD, they can talk about political interests," he added.
So far only one legal expert, Kyi Win, has testified on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi. The prosecution has called 14 witnesses, most of them policemen.
Her trial is due to resume on Friday for what will now be a procedural hearing but Nyan Win said that because of their imminent appeal there could not be a verdict within the next two weeks.
Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers had initially accused the ruling junta of trying to push through to a widely expected guilty verdict, but diplomats said the regime now wanted to buy time to defuse the storm of protest over the trial.
US President Barack Obama has described the court proceedings as a "show trial" while Myanmar's usually reticent Asian neighbours have expressed strong concerns.
The 63-year-old opposition leader has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years since the junta refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last democratic elections, in 1990.
Critics say the regime wants to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up ahead of elections promised next year. Her latest six-year period of house arrest was lifted at the end of May, but by then she was already in jail facing trial.
A rights group said a recent push by the military against ethnic Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar, which has sent around 3,000 people fleeing into Thailand, was an attempt to divert attention from the trial.
"We believe that current military offensives are intended to distract the public attention from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's trial and subsequent sentencing," said Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962. - AFP/de
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