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Myanmar court suspends Suu Kyi sentence over dispute
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, Feb. 21 (Reuters) A Myanmar court sentenced pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday to one week in jail or a 500 kyat fine over a domestic dispute but the sentence was later suspended.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) said the dispute between the Suu Kyi and her cousin was being used by the ruling military as a political weapon.
Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, said the opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner refused to accept the sentence, which a higher district court later suspended pending a review.
Leaving the Bahan township court in the area of Yangon where she lives, Suu Kyi, with a trademark boquet of white flowers in her hair, was critical of Myanmar's legal system.
''Now we know what the law means in Myanmar,'' she told reporters gathered outside the court, along with about 200 supporters and bystanders.
The official exchange rate in Myanmar is six kyat to the U.S. dollar, making the fine around $83. However, it takes around 1,000 kyat to buy a dollar on the widely used black market.
Announcing the sentencing at a news conference earlier, NLD chairman Aung Shwe said that the ruling and conduct of the trial showed political interference. The junta has made no comment.
''This judgment and the trial are politically motivated,'' he said. ''She is ready to go to jail.''
Suu Kyi's lawyer said that soon after he had lodged an appeal to have the ruling revised, a process which usually takes days, the Western Yangon District Court suspended the sentence, saying it would make a final ruling later and allowing Suu Kyi to go home.
GULF WIDENS
Suu Kyi and her cousin, Soe Aung, filed lawsuits against each other last year shortly after the pro-democracy leader's release from 19 months house arrest.
Soe Aung accused Suu Kyi of ''wrongful restraint,'' while Suu Kyi accused him of ''outraging the modesty of women'' after a scuffle outside her residence on May 10, two days after Suu Kyi's release. The court sentenced Soe Aung to one week in jail or a 1,000 kyat fine, which he paid the same day.
Suu Kyi's NLD won 1990 elections in Myanmar by a landslide but was denied power by the ruling military. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past decade under house arrest.
Her latest release in May came after heavy international pressure and months of U.N.-mediated confidence-building talks, and sparked hopes the junta were moving towards reform.
But the talks have stalled and the gulf between Myanmar's opposition and military appeared to widen this month, with Suu Kyi calling for meaningful dialogue as ruling generals railed against threats to stability.
Suu Kyi told supporters in a speech that the country's society and economy, ruined by years of isolation and mismanagement, was suffering because of government stalling on real dialogue.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military in various guises for most of the period since its independence from Britain in 1948.
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Myanmar opposition leader found guilty in dispute with cousin, jail sentence suspended
Fri Feb 21, 5:54 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to a week in jail Friday after being found guilty in a connection with a family dispute, but walked free after a judge suspended her sentence.
A court in Yangon's Bahan township found her guilty of unlawful restraint of a person for keeping her cousin, Soe Aung, out of the residential compound they had shared in Yangon, colleagues from her National League for Democracy party said.
The offense is punishable by a fine of 500 kyat (US$83 at the official exchange rate, or US$0.45 at the black market rate), or a week in jail.
"Suu Kyi was asked to pay the fine, but Suu Kyi refused to do so as she said she was not guilty as charged," said Aung Shwe, chairman of her NLD party. He and party Vice Chairman Tin Oo both attended the court session.
The case was heard Friday morning, but the parties concerned remained at the court while Suu Kyi's lawyers filed for what is known as a revision of the case, a procedure similar to an appeal.
Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win told reporters that the district magistrate's office, which has authority over the township, decided to suspend the sentence, but he did not know why or whether any conditions were attached.
The roots of the latest case go back to May last year when Suu Kyi sued Soe Aung after he allegedly punched her in the face during an argument. Sources familiar with the incident said it involved a dispute over changes Soe Aung made to the property while Suu Kyi was serving 19 months of house arrest that ended last May.
Suu Kyi previously served six years of house arrest at the two-story lakefront villa in Yangon from 1989 to 1995, when she was held under house arrest without trial on national security charges. During that time she won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent efforts to promote democracy.
Suu Kyi sued Soe Aung for "assaulting the modesty of a woman." The disposition of the case is not known, and Suu Kyi's lawyers declined to discuss it Friday.
After the incident Suu Kyi refused to allow Soe Aung to enter the compound "to avoid similar incidents and to avoid fights between him and her security youths who stayed in her compound," lawyer Nyan Win said. Members of the NLD's youth wing look after Suu Kyi's personal security.
In July 2002, Soe Aung filed a case against her, charging unlawful restraint of a person, Aung Shwe said.
Suu Kyi has been embroiled for several years in a separate dispute about the property, which was given by the government to her mother after Suu Kyi's father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947. Her mother died in Dec. 1988.
Suu Kyi's estranged older brother, Aung San Oo, is suing her for half-ownership of the 2-acre (0.8 hectare-) property, where Suu Kyi spent her childhood years and has lived since returning to Myanmar in 1988.
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