BURMA: ASSK LAWYERS DENIED ACCESS THIS WEEK;

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000461 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP, IO, AND CA/OCS/ACS/EAP; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2019 TAGS: CASC PGOV PHUM PREL BM SUBJECT: BURMA: ASSK LAWYERS DENIED ACCESS THIS WEEK; YETTAW SAYS REQUEST TO CONSULT LAWYER UNHEEDED REF: A. RANGOON 456 ¶B. RANGOON 452 ¶C. RANGOON 430 Classified By: Political Officer Sean K. O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Nyan Win, a lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK),told us that on July 21 authorities denied a request by him and co-counsel U Kyi Win (aka Neville) to meet one more time with ASSK prior to the scheduled start of closing arguments on July 24. On July 22, Neville went to Insein Prison to try to appeal. As of the afternoon, he had not reported back. ASSK last met with her lawyers on July 20 for two and a half hours (ref A) and on July 17 for two hours (ref B). ¶2. (SBU) Meanwhile, authorities notified us July 22 they would grant another consular visit to American Citizen John Yettaw. (Note: Last consular meeting with Yettaw was June ¶27. Per ref C, we have sought access repeatedly since then. End note.) Consul visited Yettaw at Insein Prison on the afternoon of July 22 for forty minutes. Yettaw complained that although he had requested access to his attorney two weeks ago, authorities had not arranged it. Consul conveyed to prison officials the importance of honoring such requests, particularly in light of upcoming closing arguments. The prison director replied that Yettaw's attorney could submit his application for a visit immediately. (Note: Without access to Yettaw but presuming he might want to discuss strategy for final arguments, we contacted the lawyer July ¶16. The lawyer informed us he did not see a need for access prior to the trial resuming. Now that we have Yettaw's request, we have conveyed it to the lawyer, who has confirmed he will submit his access request.) DINGER