FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2009

CONTACT: Kathy Gest, NDI Director of Public Affairs
[email protected], 202-728-5535

WASHINGTON – The National Democratic Institute (NDI) today condemned the decision by Burma’s military junta to sentence Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to 18-months house arrest on charges that she violated the terms of her previous house arrest sentence.

“The conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi on trumped up charges is the latest perversion of justice perpetrated by Burma’s despotic and illegitimate leadership,” said Madeleine K. Albright, chairman of the National Democratic Institute. “Burma’s government has acted once again on the basis of fear.  Its leaders are afraid that Daw Suu Kyi will expose the elections planned for 2010 as a sham and afraid of allowing the Burmese people to express themselves under free and fair conditions.  The world should condemn the outcome of this trial, demand the return to real democracy and insist on the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the approximately 2,100 political dissidents languishing in Burmese prisons.”

Daw Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s democratic opposition, the National League for Democracy, was originally sentenced to three years hard labor on charges she violated the terms of her house arrest. By special order, Senior General Than Shwe, head of the State Peace and Development Council, changed her sentence to 18 months under house arrest. The charges arose when an American man penetrated her compound, which is heavily guarded by armed military personnel, by swimming across a nearby lake. The intruder suffered exhaustion from the swim and stayed inside the compound to rest before leaving again. The military regime claimed the incident violated of the house arrest conditions, which prohibit Daw Suu Kyi from having visitors in her home.

Aung San Suu Kyi received NDI’s W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award in 1996.

The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide by promoting citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.  More information is available at www.ndi.org.