Suu Kyi lawyers ask court to summon brother in property dispute ( AP ) November 11, 2002


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Suu Kyi lawyers ask court to summon brother in property dispute

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers asked a court Monday to force her estranged brother to testify in a lawsuit he filed two years ago seeking a share of the family house where Suu Kyi lives.

Neither Suu Kyi nor her brother, who lives in the United States, has appeared in court in connection with the case, which has been fought by their lawyers and representatives.

Her legal team filed a petition with a district court in the capital,Yangon, arguing that Aung San Oo's presence in court would lead to a ``much fairer hearing'' because his representatives have been ``unable to give satisfactory explanations to our questions,'' said lawyer Tun Tin.

Aung San Oo's lawyer, Han Toe, told the Yangon Division Court that the petition was ``meaningless,'' saying his client has been well represented by his personal agent. The hearing was adjourned until Nov.27, when Han Toe said he would submit a formal objection to the application.

Suu Kyi has been sued by Aung San Oo, who is a U.S citizen, for an ``entitled share'' of a 2-acre (0.8- hectare) property that includes a two-story lakeside house in Yangon where Suu Kyi has lived for the past 14 years.

The property was given by the government to Suu Kyi's mother after her husband, independence hero Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947. Her mother died in Dec. 1988.

According to Myanmar's Buddhist inheritance law, children of Buddhist parents have the right to inherit property left by their parents. But a 1987 law forbids foreigners from owning or transferring property without a special waiver by the government.

An earlier lawsuit filed Aung San Oo in November 2000 seeking an equal partition of the property was dismissed in January last year on technical grounds.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her democracy struggle, was confined to that house from September 2000 to May this year after defying a travel ban imposed by Myanmar's military regime.Her National League for Democracy party won general elections in 1990 but was barred from taking power.

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