BANGKOK — Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, went on trial Monday as hundreds of police officers and army soldiers blocked crowds of protesters, according to reports from news agencies and opposition exile groups.
Several foreign diplomats were also prevented from entering the court where Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi faced charges that could bring a prison term of up to five years, according to the reports. A United States Embassy official was allowed to enter because another defendant in the trial is an American man who swam across a lake early this month and spent a night in Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s house.
Though the American, John Yettaw, apparently acted without her knowledge, his adventure led to charges that she violated the terms of the house arrest that has limited her outside contacts for 13 of the past 19 years.
The trial, with its peculiar origin, was the most aggressive action the ruling junta has taken against Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has remained the symbolic leader of an opposition that continues to resurface after repeated crackdowns. Most analysts saw the charges as a pretext for extending her latest six-year term of house arrest in advance of a general election next spring in which the junta aims to formalize the dominance of the military under a new constitution.
Some analysts also say the charges marked the beginning of a broader clampdown on political dissent and pro-democracy figures in advance of the election.
Although the regime carried out a purge of opposition activists after an uprising led by Buddhist monks in 2007, demonstrators were on the streets again Monday, handing out leaflets and challenging police, soldiers and civilian militias carrying bamboo rods and canes, according to the Burma Partnership, an exile opposition group.
“In terms of security measures they’ve deployed, it’s very difficult for people to come together for a big march,” said Khin Ohmar of the Burma Partnership, who said she was in direct contact with members of the opposition inside the former Burma.
As of mid-day, the group said at least five protesters had been arrested. It said that hundreds of people were sitting on the ground outside a barricade near the prison where the trial is being held.
It was not clear how long the trial might last, but Ms. Khin Ohmar said officials had announced that the streets around the prison would be closed off for a week.
The charges have brought broad condemnation from the United Nations, western countries and even some of Myanmar’s normally accommodating Southeast Asian neighbors.
Last week, the United States, which had publicly said it was reviewing a hard-line policy of economic sanctions, announced that the sanctions would be extended for another year. On Monday the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said, “It’s not the moment to lower sanctions, it’s the moment in any case to increase them.”
Among Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters, including exile groups and her own lawyers, there is widespread anger at the American adventurer for putting Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi at risk of imprisonment.
Mr. Yettaw, from Falcon, Missouri, swam across Inya Lake in central Yangon earlier this month and sneaked into Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside compound at night. He used empty plastic jugs to keep himself afloat during his swim, and he had a pair of makeshift flippers strapped to his feet, according to reports in the official Myanmar press.
The reasons for his escapade remained unclear, although an American diplomat said last week he seemed to have religious motivations for trying to visit the house.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s principal lawyer, who called Mr. Yettaw “a nutty fellow” and “a fool,” said the Nobel laureate pleaded with him to leave, but he complained of exhaustion and leg cramps. She gave him a ground-floor room while she stayed in her bedroom upstairs.
The government does not allow Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi to have foreign visitors at her home, and even senior diplomats are denied permission to see her there. When the occasional United Nations envoy is allowed to speak with her, it is at a government guest house in Yangon, the country’s principal city formerly known as Rangoon. Also, overnight guests are prohibited at her home.
Mr. Yettaw, 53, a Mormon, was reported to have prayed often while he was at the house. He is said to have departed late the following night and was spotted by the police while he was swimming back across the lake.
He is facing trial along with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and two women who share her home.
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