The party of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi says a Burmese court has rejected all but one of her defense
witnesses as she faces up to five years in prison for allegedly violating the
terms of her house arrest.
A spokesman for her National League for
Democracy said Wednesday that the court rejected three other witnesses, all of
whom belong to the opposition party. Legal expert Kyi Win, one of Aung San Suu
Kyi's lawyers, will be allowed to testify as her sole witness in the trial,
which is expected to end this week.
Aung San Suu Kyi was accused of
violating her house arrest by giving shelter to an American man who swam to her
house in the early morning hours of May 4.
According to a statement
released by her party, Aung San Suu Kyi testified Tuesday that the incident that
led to the current charges occurred due to a security breach, although no
officials have been held accountable.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the court heard three
hours of testimony from American John Yettaw during the closed trial Wednesday.
Nyan Win said Yettaw, in his first testimony to the court, described how he
received a vision from God that terrorists planned to assassinate Aung San Suu
Kyi. He reportedly told the court that God told him to come to Burma to warn
Aung San Suu Kyi.
The pro-democracy leader testified Tuesday she gave
Yettaw "temporary shelter" until he left the next day. Her lawyers say she asked
the 53-year-old American to leave, but allowed him to stay overnight after he
said he was too exhausted and ill to swim back.
Authorities lifted her
latest home detention order on Tuesday, but she has been held at Insein prison
since her arrest May 14 on charges of violating her house arrest.
Yettaw
is also facing trial as are two caretakers.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13
of the last 19 years in detention, most of it at her lakeside home in the main
city of Rangoon.
Wednesday is the sixth anniversary of her latest round
of detention, as well as the anniversary of the NLD's victory in the 1990
elections. The military refused to relinquish power.
Critics say Burma's
military leaders are using the trial as a pretext to keep the opposition leader
under detention so she cannot participate in next year's elections.
Her
current trial has also provoked condemnation from the United States and across
Asia and Europe.
On Wednesday, Britain's prime minister added his name to
a new campaign for the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Some information for this report was provided by
AFP, AP and Reuters.