A court in army-ruled Burma has delayed the widely-condemned trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for at least two weeks, her lawyer said today.
The Yangon District Court set a new date of June 26th to hear the charges against Ms Suu Kyi and American John Yettaw, whose uninvited visit to her home last month was deemed a breach of her house arrest.
Lawyers for the Nobel laureate asked for the adjournment to allow her only remaining defence witness, legal expert Khin Moe Moe, to testify at the trial.
"We requested the further adjournment since Daw Khin Moe Moe has to come here from southern Shan State," Nyan Win told reporters.
Ms Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of violating her house arrest after Mr Yettaw, 53, swam across Inya lake and stayed for two nights at her Yangon home.
Ms Suu Kyi says the trial is politically motivated to keep her in detention during next year's multi-party elections, which critics say will entrench nearly half a century of military rule in Burma.
Even some of Burma's neighbours are worried about the legitimacy of next year's polls.
Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong told the generals that future investment in Myanmar hinged on the progress of democratic change there.
"I believe no Singapore investor will come in a big way before this move towards democracy is seen to yield some results," Mr Goh was quoted as saying by the Straits Times newspaper today after his visit to Burma.
Reuters