Periods under detention
- 20 July 1989: Placed under house arrest in Yangon under martial law that allows for detention without charge or trial for three years.
- 10 July 1995: Released from house arrest.
- 23 September 2000: Placed under house arrest.
- 6 May 2002: Released after 19 months.
- 30 May 2003: Arrested following the Depayin massacre, she was held in secret detention for more than three months before being returned to house arrest.
- 25 May 2007: House arrest extended by one year despite a direct appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to General Than Shwe.
- 24 October 2007: Reached 12 years under house arrest, solidarity protests held at 12 cities around the world.
- 27 May 2008: House arrest extended for another year, which is illegal under both international law and Myanmar's own law.
- 11 August 2009: House arrest extended for 18 more months because of "violation" arising from the May 2009 trespass incident.
- 13 November 2010: Released from house arrest.
2007 anti-government protests
Protests led by Buddhist monks began on 19 August 2007 following
steep fuel price increases, and continued each day, despite the threat
of a crackdown by the military.
On 22 September 2007, although still under house arrest,
Suu Kyi made a brief public appearance at the gate of her residence in
Yangon to accept the blessings of Buddhist monks who were marching in
support of human rights. It was reported that she had been moved the following day to Insein Prison (where she had been detained in 2003),but meetings with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari near her Yangon home on 30 September and 2 October established that she remained under house arrest.
2009 trespass incident
On 3 May 2009, an American man, identified as John Yettaw, swam across Inya Lake to her house uninvited and was arrested when he made his return trip three days later. He had attempted to make a similar trip two years earlier, but for unknown reasons was turned away. He later claimed at trial that he was motivated by a divine vision
requiring him to notify her of an impending terrorist assassination
attempt.On 13 May, Suu Kyi was arrested for violating the terms of her house
arrest because the swimmer, who pleaded exhaustion, was allowed to stay
in her house for two days before he attempted the swim back. Suu Kyi was
later taken to Insein Prison, where she could have faced up to five years confinement for the intrusion.The trial of Suu Kyi and her two maids began on 18 May and a small number of protesters gathered outside. Diplomats and journalists were barred from attending the trial; however, on one occasion, several diplomats from Russia, Thailand and Singapore and journalists were allowed to meet Suu Kyi.The prosecution had originally planned to call 22 witnesses. It also accused John Yettaw of embarrassing the country.During the ongoing defence case, Suu Kyi said she was innocent. The
defence was allowed to call only one witness (out of four), while the
prosecution was permitted to call 14 witnesses. The court rejected two
character witnesses, NLD members Tin Oo and Win Tin, and permitted the defense to call only a legal expert. According to one unconfirmed report, the junta was planning to, once
again, place her in detention, this time in a military base outside the
city.In a separate trial, Yettaw said he swam to Suu Kyi's house to warn her that her life was "in danger".The national police chief later confirmed that Yettaw was the "main culprit" in the case filed against Suu Kyi.According to aides, Suu Kyi spent her 64th birthday in jail sharing biryani rice and chocolate cake with her guards.
Her arrest and subsequent trial received worldwide condemnation by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Security Council,Western governments,South Africa,Japanand the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member. The Myanmar government strongly condemned the statement, as it created an "unsound tradition"and criticised Thailand for meddling in its internal affairs. The Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win was quoted in the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar
as saying that the incident "was trumped up to intensify international
pressure on Myanmar by internal and external anti-government elements who
do not wish to see the positive changes in those countries' policies
toward Myanmar".Ban responded to an international campaign by flying to Myanmar to negotiate, but Than Shwe rejected all of his requests.
On 11 August 2009 the trial concluded with Suu Kyi being sentenced to
imprisonment for three years with hard labour. This sentence was commuted by the military rulers to further house arrest of 18 months.On 14 August, U.S. Senator Jim Webb visited Myanmar, visiting with junta leader Gen. Than Shwe and later with Suu Kyi. During the visit, Webb negotiated Yettaw's release and deportation from Myanmar.Following the verdict of the trial, lawyers of Suu Kyi said they would appeal against the 18-month sentence.On 18 August, United States President Barack Obama asked the country's military leadership to set free all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. In her appeal, Aung San Suu Kyi had argued that the conviction was
unwarranted. However, her appeal against the August sentence was
rejected by a Myanmar court on 2 October 2009. Although the court
accepted the argument that the 1974 constitution, under which she had
been charged, was null and void, it also said the provisions of the 1975
security law, under which she has been kept under house arrest,
remained in force. The verdict effectively meant that she would be
unable to participate in the elections scheduled to take place in 2010 –
the first in Myanmar in two decades. Her lawyer stated that her legal
team would pursue a new appeal within 60 days.
2009: International pressure for release, and Myanmar general election 2010
It was announced prior to the Myanmar general election that Aung San Suu Kyi may be released "so she can organize her party,"However, Suu Kyi was not allowed to run.On 1 October 2010 the government announced that she would be released on 13 November 2010.
Myanmar's relaxing stance, such as releasing political prisoners, was
influenced in the wake of successful recent diplomatic visits by the US
and other democratic governments, urging or encouraging the Myanmar
towards democratic reform. U.S. President Barack Obama personally advocated for the release of all political prisoners, especially Aung San Suu Kyi, during the US-ASEAN Summit of 2009.
Democratic governments
hoped that successful general elections would be an optimistic
indicator of the Myanmar government's sincerity towards eventual
democracy. The Hatoyama
government which spent 2.82 billion yen in 2008, has promised more
Japanese foreign aid to encourage Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi in
time for the elections; and to continue moving towards democracy and the
rule of law.
In a personal letter to Suu Kyi, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
cautioned the Myanmar government of the potential consequences of
rigging elections as "condemning Myanmar to more years of diplomatic
isolation and economic stagnation".
The Myanmar government has been granting Suu Kyi varying degrees of
freedom throughout late 2009, in response to international pressure. She
has met with many heads of state, and opened a dialog with the Minister
of Labor Aung Kyi (not to be confused with Aung San Suu Kyi).
Suu Kyi was allowed to meet with senior members of her NLD party at the State House, however these meeting took place under close supervision.
2010 release
On the evening of 13 November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. This was the date her detention had been set to expire according to a court ruling in August 2009 and came six days after a widely criticized general election.
She appeared in front of a crowd of her supporters, who rushed to her
house in Yangon when nearby barricades were removed by the security
forces. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate had been detained for 15 of the
past 21 years. The government newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported the release positively, saying she had been granted a pardon after serving her sentence "in good conduct". The New York Times
suggested that the military government may have released Suu Kyi
because it felt it was in a confident position to control her supporters
after the election. The role that Aung San Suu Kyi will play in the future of democracy in Myanmar remains a subject of much debate.
Her son Kim Aris was granted a visa in November 2010 to see his
mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, shortly after her release, for the first time
in 10 years. He visited again in 5 July 2011, to accompany her on a trip to Bagan, her first trip outside Yangon since 2003. Her son visited again in 8 August 2011, to accompany her on a trip to Pago, her second trip.
Discussions were held between Suu Kyi and the Myanmar government
during 2011, which led to a number of official gestures to meet her
demands. In October, around a tenth of Myanmar's political prisoners were
freed in an amnesty and trade unions were legalised.
In November 2011, following a meeting of its leaders, the NLD
announced its intention to re-register as a political party in order
contend 48 by-elections necessitated by the promotion of
parliamentarians to ministerial rank.
Following the decision, Suu Kyi held a telephone conference with U.S.
President Barack Obama, in which it was agreed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would make a visit to Myanmar, a move received with caution by Myanmar's ally China. On 1 December 2011, Suu Kyi met with Hillary Clinton at the residence of the top-ranking US diplomat in Yangon.
On 21 December 2011, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met Suu Kyi in Yangoon, becoming Suu Kyi's "first-ever meeting with the leader of a foreign country".
On 5 January 2012, British Foreign Minister William Hague met Aung
San Suu Kyi and his Myanmar counterpart. This represented a significant
visit for Suu Kyi and Myanmar. Suu Kyi studied in the UK and maintains
many ties there, whilst Britain is Myanmar's largest bilateral donor.
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