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YANGON: Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces fresh uncertainty this week over her internationally condemned trial, with her US co-defendant's illness threatening to further delay the verdict.
A prison court is scheduled to hand down judgment on Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and American John Yettaw when it meets on Tuesday for what was expected to be the final episode in the nearly three-month-long legal imbroglio.
But diplomats and officials said it could be postponed once again because Yettaw -- who sparked the case by swimming to her lakeside home in May -- remains in hospital after suffering repeated epileptic seizures.
Myanmar officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Yettaw's health improved slightly on Saturday and that he was "eating well" after fasting for weeks, but said the trial could be delayed at least another week.
"If Yettaw's health does not improve or deteriorates we are heading towards a postponement. We will know more on Monday," added a Western diplomat, asking not to be named.
"But if his condition improves during the weekend they (Myanmar's ruling government) have no interest in delaying further the verdict," the diplomat said.
Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail if convicted of violating her house arrest. She has already been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years and is being held at Yangon's Insein prison, where the trial is taking place.
The case is proving to be a major headache for the government, caught between growing international pressure to free Suu Kyi and what critics say is its determination to keep her locked up during elections due in 2010.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon last week pressed the government to free political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, after convening a meeting of the "Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Myanmar".
A visit to Myanmar in the next two weeks by Democratic US Senator Jim Webb -- the first US lawmaker to visit the country in more than 10 years -- could further complicate the timing of the verdict, diplomats said.
Suu Kyi's lawyers have hailed the repeated delays as a sign that the judges have "serious legal problems" -- but analysts say the real decisions are being made by reclusive leader Than Shwe from the bunker capital Naypyidaw.
Myanmar's government "has a window from August 10 and 20 because after that all the governments come back to normal and then early September you have the UN General Assembly," the western diplomat said.
Ban said the "Group of Friends" had agreed to hold a second high-level meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next month similar to one he hosted last year.
Diplomats said that Myanmar's government was listening closely to its allies China and Russia, which have so far steered clear of saying that the trial is an internal matter and thereby granting the government a free hand.
"It is certain that the Chinese and Russian governments are speaking regularly to the Myanmar government about the trial. The Myanmar authorities are taking this into account," the western diplomat said.
Myanmar police chief Khin Yee said Friday that Yettaw, 54, had been fasting for long periods since his arrest in May because of his religious beliefs, but said any further delay to the verdict date would be a decision for the court.
The police chief said that prison authorities had given Yettaw, a devout Mormon and former US military veteran who also suffers from diabetes, a high-energy protein drink during his periods of fasting.
He is being treated at Yangon General Hospital after being taken from Insein prison on Monday night.
Security was tight across the capital at the weekend for the 21st anniversary on Saturday of a 1988 student-led uprising which the government brutally crushed, killing more than 3,000 people.
- AFP/yt
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