Burmese Activists Defend Detained Opposition Leader

Exiled Burmese activists gathered in Bangkok on Friday. They want the United Nations to take immediate action against Burma's military rulers for pressing new charges against detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Human rights groups in Thailand and exiled politicians and activists from Burma held a news conference to call on the U.N. and the international community for tougher action against the junta.

63-year-old opposition party leader Suu Kyi, faces up to five years in jail after an American intruder sneaked into her lakeside home, effectively violating the terms of her house arrest.

[Nyo Ohn Myint, National League for Democracy Party]:
"Mr. Ban Ki Moon should lead that, you know, not only a goodwill mission but also to re-consult in-between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the SPDC generals otherwise we would see that more, you know, the human disaster, and, in Burma in the very near future because I do not want to blame the United Nations but the problem is that the United Nations security council should and could have done..."

Human rights groups are calling on neighboring China and India, along with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to demand Suu Kyi's immediate release.

The trial for Suu Kyi is set for Monday, May 18.

[Thin Thin Aung, Women's League of Burma]:
"They (military junta) really intended to make Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in this trap and also because this time is May 24 is the detention period for Aung San Suu Kyi will be over and also the international community are calling for her release so that the regime will want to create and also the situation to put her in more longer time in jail before 2010 elections."

Suu Kyi has been virtually cut off from the outside world, with her phone line disconnected, mail intercepted and visitors restricted.

She has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under some form of detention.

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