Yangon - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was briefed for two hours by her defence team Wednesday and is well prepared for her trial which is scheduled to resume on Friday, one of her lawyers said. Suu Kyi's defence team met with the Nobel peace laureate in Insein Prison in preparation for the continuation of her trial Friday, when defence witness Khin Moe Moe will testify, Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, said Wednesday.
"Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi is fully prepared for whatever happens at the trial," Nyan Win said.
Nyan Win, who is the official spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, also informed Suu Kyi that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been denied a meeting with her by the junta during his brief trip to Myanmar on Friday and Saturday.
"She made no remark on that," Nyan Win said.
Myanmar's military regime refused Ban's request to meet Suu Kyi on the grounds that she was currently on trial, and such a visit might prejudice the judiciary.
The excuse was deemed ridiculous since it is well-known that Myanmar's judiciary does not operate independently of the junta.
Ban said he was "very disappointed" by the refusal, and described it as "missed opportunity" for the regime.
Khin Moe Moe, an NLD member and professional attorney, was originally scheduled to testify on Friday, but the court session was postponed until July 10, shortly after UN chief Ban arrived in Yangon.
A special court has been set up at Insein Prison to try Suu Kyi for breaking the terms of her detention by allegedly permitting US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside home-cum-prison on May 3 and stay until May 5.
Suu Kyi's trial began May 11. While the prosecution was allowed to present 14 witnesses in the first week, the defence was initially allowed only one. Later a second witness, Khin Moe Moe, was permitted.
Critics have accused the military junta of using the case as a pretext to keep Suu Kyi in jail during a politically sensitive period leading up to a general election planned for next year.
Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.
Suu Kyi's NLD won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar's junta for the past 19 years.
The new trial of Suu Kyi, whose most recent six-year house detention sentence expired May 27, has sparked a chorus of protests from world leaders and even statements of concern from its regional allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.
