Suu Kyi Denied Meeting with Her Lawyer

By WAI MOE

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, said that the Burmese authorities had denied him a meeting with the detained opposition leader to discuss the appeal against her continued detention.

Kyi Win said that his written request to meet with Suu Kyi was rejected by the security forces on Monday.

“According to the correct procedure, I sent a written request to the Special Branch of Burma’s police on December 3,” Kyi Win said. “In the letter I requested a meeting with my client, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, over her pending case on December 9. However the Special Branch called me on December 8 and told me they could not permit me to meet with her.”

Kyi Win said that it was imperative he meet with Suu Kyi to tell her that he has filed an appeal against her continued house arrest to the appeals court in Naypyidaw, the military junta’s new capital.

The Rangoon lawyer said that, although he was denied, Suu Kyi’s doctor, Tin Myo Win, was able to visit her at her lakeside residence on December 4 for about four hours.

Kyi Win insisted he would try again. “I will repeat my request for a meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to the appeals court,” he said.

Kyi Win originally filed an appeal against Suu Kyi’s continued house arrest to the appeals court in October. Prior to that, he said he had met with her five times to discuss the case.

After meeting with Suu Kyi in early September, Kyi Win said that the opposition leader had lost weight and was shunning her daily food deliveries until her right to receive personal mail, magazines and newspapers had been restored. At that time, visits by her doctor were also restricted.

The Burmese junta caved in to Suu Kyi’s demands in mid-September. In return, the opposition leader agreed to accept deliveries of food and household supplies.

Since July 1989, pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest or put in jail three times. She has spent 13 out of the past 19 years in detention.