According to Suu Kyi’s lawyer, John William Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri, swam across Lake Inya to reach Suu Kyi’s lakefront bungalow and visit with her, possibly for a paper he’s writing about forgiveness. Suu Kyi asked Yettaw to leave, but he complained of not feeling well and she allowed him to spend the night. Yettaw was later arrested while trying to swim back across the lake, and Suu Kyi was then escorted to Burma’s notorious Insein Prison, which houses numerous political prisoners.

 

Suu Kyi’s current sentence, dating back to her arrest in 2003, was scheduled for review on May 27. Her supporters fear that the junta may try to use the Yettaw incident to extend her house confinement or keep her in prison. Suu Kyi, who is now 63 years old, has spent nearly 13 of the last 18 years under house arrest.

 

The controversy comes as the military junta is preparing to hold elections in 2010 under a new constitution that will create a “disciplined democracy,” including a legislature with 25% of the seats reserved for members of the military. In recent months dozens of political opponents have been rounded up by the military, and many have been given long sentences in prison.

 

Suu Kyi Insists She is Innocent (BBC News)

Home of Burma’s Suu Kyi Imperiled (by Glenn Kessler, Washington Post)

Motives of American Who Swam to Suu Kyi a Mystery (by Maria Sudekum Fisher, Associated Press)

Suu Kyi’s Stalker Swimmer (by Aung Zaw, Democracy for Burma)

Burmese Nobel Laureate to Face Trial Under Junta (by Thomas Fuller and Seth Mydans, New York Times)

The Voice Of Her People (by David Wallechinsky, Parade)