Suu Kyi's lawyers optimistic she won't be jailed

Yangon (Myanmar), May 29 (ANI): Lawyers for Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi say they are optimistic about their client not being sent to jail for five years for allowing an American to stay illegally inside her house for two days.

The case will be heard on Monday.

The defence has argued that there is no legal basis for the charge that Suu Kyi, 63, had broken the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American swam to her home.

Her supporters fear that she may be found guilty because the courts are under the influence of the ruling junta and usually deliver harsh punishment for political dissidents.

But according to the Daily Express, one of Suu Kyi's lawyers, Nyan Win, said he was "very confident of victory if the trial is carried out according to law".

The trial has drawn outrage from the international community and Suu Kyi's local supporters, who worry that the military junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through next year's elections.

Her party won the last elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military, which has run the country since 1962.

Suu Kyi's defence team admits 53-year-old John Yettaw swam to and entered her lakeside home, where he stayed for two days. But they say it was the duty of government guards outside her closely watched house to prevent any intruders. (ANI)