Burmese authorities entered Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside house at 12 p.m. Friday, reportedly to deliver a release warrant.
BY BA KAUNG
IRRAWADDY CORRESPONDENT FROM RANGOON
(November 12, Rangoon, Sri Lanka Guardian) Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is widely expected to be released at 4 p.m. Friday, just five days after the country's military regime held an election marred by reports of widespread vote rigging.
Suu Kyi, 65, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, signed a letter recognizing her freedom around 12 p.m. Friday, according to reporters and National League for Democracy (NLD) members waiting in front of her lakeside house on University Avenue in Rangoon.
Her lawyer, Nyan Win, did not confirm the news, but said, “Daw Suu will hold a press conference at the party's [NLD] headquarters in Rangoon once she is freed.”
Nyan Win earlier said that Suu Kyi would not accept a conditional release and that her detention could no longer be extended since her sentence is due to expire at 7 p.m. Saturday.
As news of her possible imminent release spread, at least 500 of her local supporters gathered at the NLD headquarters in Rangoon, and many supporters from other parts of the country began traveling to the former capital, Rangoon sources said.
“She will resume active politics and make organizing tours throughout the country,” Nyan Win said.
This would, however, raise the possibility of a new round of confrontations between Suu Kyi and the country's military leaders. When last freed from house arrest in 2002, she subsequently faced a 2003 assassination attempt during a tour of the country.
In Aug. 2009, Suu Kyi's current period of detention was extended by 18 months over a bizarre incident in which an American swam uninvited to her lakeside home. Due to the election law subsequently issued by the regime, the extension made it impossible for her to participate in last Sunday's election, Burma's first in 20 years.
Suu Kyi's NLD—which was officially disbanded for failing to register for this year's controversial election—boycotted the election, saying it was held under undemocratic conditions. In the 1990 election, the NLD won an overwhelming majority of the vote, but the junta officially nullified the results.
The National Democratic Force, an NLD splinter group comprised of former leading NLD members, participated in the polls and was roundly defeated by the junta-backed United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which allegedly benefited from widespread vote rigging.
On Thursday, Burma's state media announced that the USDP has gained majorities in both houses of parliament.
Over the past 20 years, Suu Kyi has unsuccessfully called for dialogue with the military junta in an attempt to break the country's political deadlock. Observers question whether that call will remain relevant given that the election results have paved the way for continued military rule by members of the current junta, which will control the new parliament, with a civilian facade.
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