9/30/2010 11:55 PM: Myanmar Opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed just days after that South-east Asian nation’s first election in two decades (scheduled for November 7) was held, said some government officials Thursday.
The p…ro-democracy icon, under detention for most of the past two decades since winning the country’s last general election but was not allowed to assume office, would be declared a free citizen after her current term of house arrest would expire November 13, these officials said. The release date was confirmed by another official.
However, lawyers for Suu Kyi are skeptical about this.
Myanmar’s Generals publicly and repeatedly said on many occasions that she (Suu Kyi) would be released but did not honor those promises, her U.S.-based lawyer, Jared Genser, told ABC News Breakfast.
The news of her planned release came just days after the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Myanmar’s forthcoming election would not be credible unless she was released.
Suu Kyi’s NLD, which won the last election held in 1990 but was not allowed to assume office, is boycotting the election over what it calls unfair and undemocratic election laws, and has refused to register itself as mandated by present laws.
Many critics dismiss the proposed elections as a sham that will merely perpetuate military rule under civilian guise. Several of these generals are readying themselves to contest the elections as candidates of some political parties.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 when the then Prime Minister U Nu was overthrown by Army Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ne Win.
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