Aung San Suu Kyi Faces New Charges in Myanmar Over House Arrest

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy activist and Prime Minister-elect in Myanmar, now faces new charges of violating her house arrest, despite being scheduled to be freed on May 27, 2009.

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Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest multiple times since the late 1980s and, most recently, she has been kept "in detention without trial" for over 13 of the past 19 years.
 
In 2008, Myanmar's miliatry junta extended her house arrest for another year and is now seeking to detain her for an additional 3 to 5 years imprisonment over the alleged infraction.

Leaders in South East Asia have expressed "grave concern" over Suu Kyi's new trial, which many believe to be "a pretext to ensure she is in jail during next year's elections".

The new charges stem from an attempt made by a 53-year-old Missouri man, John William Yettaw, swam across a lake and entered her home earlier this month.

Yettaw's attempt to visit Suu Kyi has several compromised her safety and could lead her to further incarceration.

Despite this, Yettaw's family members have insisted his actions were not politically motivated and that Yettaw's was simply interested in meeting Suu Kyi "as part of his research on forgiveness and resilience".