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PARIS: The leaders of France and Germany expressed grave concern on Thursday for Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been put on trial by Myanmar's junta, and appealed to China and India to intervene on her behalf.
During a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had sought to speak by phone to the pro-democracy leader but the military government denied his request.
"We are asking our Chinese and Indian friends for help and to take into account the concern that we have for the Nobel Peace Prize winner ahead of a conviction that appears, unfortunately, unavoidable," said Sarkozy.
The 63-year-old pro-democracy leader faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest after an eccentric American man swam to her lakeside house in Yangon and stayed the night.
"Madame Merkel and I are very concerned by the plight of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi," said Sarkozy after holding talks with Merkel at the Elysee palace.
France has expressed strong concern over Suu Kyi's health, and last month French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy made a public appeal for her release, saying that a jail sentence would be "life-threatening" for her.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years since her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in 1990 polls, but was not allowed to take power.
A jail sentence could keep her locked up far beyond controversial elections promised by the ruling generals next year, which critics have dismissed as a sham because Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner herself believes her trial by Myanmar's military government is politically motivated, her lawyer said.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday when we met that the trial is politically motivated," lawyer Nyan Win told AFP a day after meeting the opposition leader at Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where she is held.
He added that Aung San Suu Kyi is "not very satisfied" that her lakeside home is still guarded by authorities despite her house arrest having officially ended in May.
"She said that her house arrest ended on May 26, but her friends are not allowed to go into her house for cleaning. Security staff said they are still waiting for permission from their superiors," he said.
- AFP/so
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