Burma's Suu Kyi appeals conviction_5895

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Burma's Suu Kyi appeals conviction
The United Nations Security Council last month expressed "serious concern" at the verdict and the European Union extended sanctions against the junta.
Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labour for the stunt in early May but was freed after a visit by US senator Jim Webb last month, on what the regime said were compassionate grounds because of health problems.
The verdict sparked international outrage at Burma's ruling military junta, which has already kept the 64-year-old opposition leader locked up for 14 of the past 20 years in its bid to crush all dissent.
Lawyers for Burma's detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi lodged an appeal on Thursday against her conviction on charges of sheltering an American man who swam to her lakeside house.
The NLD won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
Suu Kyi was originally sentenced by the court to three years of "rigorous imprisonment",You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, but in a carefully staged last-minute intervention, junta leader Than Shwe commuted the sentence to 18 months under house arrest.
"Altogether there are 11 reasons for the appeal,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, but the main thing we will point out is about the constitution,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," he said, adding that her conviction was "not in accordance with the law."
The court would hear initial arguments from Suu Kyi's lawyers on Friday before deciding whether to officially consider the appeal, said Nyan Win,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, another of her lawyers and the spokesman for her National League for Democracy.
Kyi Win said the appeal would focus on the fact that a 1974 constitution under which the junta had detained Suu Kyi had been superseded by a new constitution that was approved in a controversial referendum last year.
The military regime has handed out long jail terms to dozens of democracy campaigners in recent months.
Yettaw - who suffers from diabetes and epilepsy - said he was on a "mission from God" to save Suu Kyi from assassination.
"We have submitted the appeal to the court," her lawyer Kyi Win said.
Suu Kyi now plans to renovate her home to improve security and keep out other possible trespassers,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Nyan Win said on Monday.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not guilty. The main person is the intruder," Nyan Win said.
Suu Kyi had insisted on her innocence during the trial held at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, saying she allowed former military veteran Yettaw to stay for two nights at her home because he was ill.
The Nobel peace laureate was ordered to spend 18 more months under house arrest after a court on August 11 found her guilty of breaking security laws following the bizarre incident involving US national John Yettaw.
Critics have accused the junta of using the charges against Suu Kyi as an excuse to keep the influential activist locked up during elections due to be held next year.
US President Barack Obama described the case against her as a "show trial."