YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi entered a plea of not guilty Friday to charges that she violated the terms of her house arrest, as indications mounted that she will be convicted and imprisoned for sheltering an uninvited American visitor.
Her plea came after the special court trying her agreed to accept the charges and proceed with her trial, which could lead to her being sentenced to five years in prison.
When the judge asked her, “Are you guilty?” she replied, “I am not guilty.”
Asked why, she said, “I am not guilty because I have not broken any law.”
The two women who stay with Suu Kyi, and the American, John W. Yettaw, whose intrusion into her lakeside home triggered the case, also pleaded not guilty.
Their trial will continue after the weekend.
The court’s action came after the military regime’s foreign minister claimed Yettaw was part of an anti-government plot, and roadblocks near Suu Kyi’s home were removed, suggesting she might not be returning anytime soon.
The U.N. Security Council on Friday called for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s courts operate under the influence of the ruling military and almost always deal harshly with political dissidents.
British Ambassador Mark Canning, reflecting the widespread assumption that Suu Kyi — a Nobel Peace Prize winner — will be found guilty, on Wednesday described the trial as “a story where the conclusion is already scripted.”
The ruling junta has stood firm for two decades against international pressure to reach an accommodation with the country’s pro-democracy movement. Human-rights groups estimate it holds more than 2,100 political prisoners.
After testimony had finished for the day, presiding judge Thaung Nyunt declared the court accepted the charge that Suu Kyi, 63, had violated the terms of her house arrest, according to her attorney. She has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years.
