Myanmar's Suu Kyi found guilty in security case

Members of the Free Burma coalition hold placards during a protest in front of the Myanmar embassy in Makati, Metro Manila August 11, 2009 in support of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)

Tue Aug 11, 2009
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) – A court in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty to 18 months in detention for violating an internal security law, a ruling certain to anger the West and further isolate the regime.

The court sentenced her to three years in prison but that was immediately reduced to a year-and-a-half on the orders of the military government, which said she could serve the time in her Yangon home.

A guilty verdict had been widely expected in a case critics say was fabricated by the military regime to keep Suu Kyi out of circulation ahead of a general election scheduled for next year.

The leader of the democracy movement in the former Burma has already spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention of one sort or another.

Please click here to read more...