Bad news for Aung San Suu Kyi and those trying to promote freedom inside Burma:

“Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy icon, will go on trial inside the nation’s most notorious jail on Monday, accused of breaching the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home to stay overnight.

If found guilty she could be sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

John Yettaw, a 53-year-old American, reportedly swam to her house last December but Ms Suu Kyi persuaded him to leave. When he arrived last week she again urged him to leave but was induced to let him stay two nights on the grounds that he was feeling unwell. He was spotted by police and arrested as he was swimming away on the night of 5 May.”

Observers suspect that this is just another ploy to silence Suu Kyi with “elections” coming up next year.