BURMA - ASSK TRIAL DELAYED; DEFENSE CONSIDERS MORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000411 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP, IO, AND CA/OCS/ACS/EAP; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2019 TAGS: CASC PGOV PHUM PREL BM SUBJECT: BURMA - ASSK TRIAL DELAYED; DEFENSE CONSIDERS MORE ACTION REF: A. RANGOON 390 ¶B. RANGOON 393 Classified By: Political Officer Chelsia C. Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (SBU) In a brief session on July 3, judges in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) and Amcit John Yettaw announced a further delay in the proceedings until July 10. Defense witness Daw Khin Mot Mot attended the hearing, but was unable to testify. Presumably, she will testify once the trial resumes. The delay came amid tight security throughout Rangoon due to the arrival of UN SYG Ban half an hour before the court opened. As on previous occasions, Embassy staff observed approximately 20 riot police cars posted outside of Insein prison. ¶2. (C) After the short proceedings, one of ASSK's lawyers, U Kyi Win (aka Neville),told Poloff that "if necessary" he will file to hold Deputy Defense Minister Maj-Gen Aye Myint in contempt of court for his comments on the trial, as reported in the June 1 New Light of Myanmar. Maj-Gen Aye Myint was quoted as saying, "It is no doubt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has committed a cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant to the authorities concerned." U Kyi Win said that the Deputy Defense Minister's comments were inappropriate given that the trial was ongoing and that his statements could influence the decision of the court. However, U Kyi Win would not elaborate on what circumstances would prompt him to seek court action against Maj-Gen Aye Myint. ¶3. (C) U Kyi Win also said that the defense could file to hold Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister U Maung Myint in contempt "for technical reasons" due to his comments at the ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting. The New Light of Myanmar reported U Maung Myint's comments on June 2, in which he asserted that by feeding and talking to Yettaw, ASSK had broken the law and a lawsuit was "unavoidable." U Kyi Win noted, however, that this would not be the preferred course of action. Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) We expect any U Kyi Win attempt to cite government officials for contempt would be tilting at windmills. From our perspective, even more blatant public presumptions of ASSK guilt occurred in the briefing last week by the Chief of Police (Deputy Home Affairs Minister) on the Yettaw case (Ref A). This latest, unexplained trial delay presumably has a political rather than a judicial motivation. The last defense witness was in the chair waiting to begin her testimony when the court announced postponement, pretty much ruling out any judicial explanation. However, only the regime knows whether the motive for delay relates to the Ban visit or to some other plot twist. DINGER