BURMA: DIVISIONAL COURT TO CONSIDER AUNG SAN SUU

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000591

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: BURMA: DIVISIONAL COURT TO CONSIDER AUNG SAN SUU
KYI APPEAL; ARGUMENTS SET FOR SEPTEMBER 18

REF: A. (A) RANGOON 566

B. (B) RANGOON 550

Classified By: P/E Chief Jennifer Harhigh for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


Divisional Court to Consider Appeal
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1. (C) Aung San Suu Kyi's (ASSK) lawyers confirmed the
Rangoon Divisional Court has agreed to consider their appeal
of ASSK's August 11 conviction on charges she violated the
terms of her house arrest. ASSK lawyer and NLD spokesman
Nyan Win told us ASSK's legal team formally filed its memorandum
of appeal September 3, following three meetings with ASSK since
she returned to house arrest August 11 (Ref A). On September 4,
the lawyers appeared in court to request the appeal be considered.
During that session, Rangoon Divisional Court authorities agreed
to admit the appeal and scheduled formal arguments for September 18.

Appeal Arguments Focus on Constitution, Communication with Outsiders
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2. (C) Nyan Win told us September 8 that the defense team and
government prosecutors both will present arguments September 18.
ASSK currently is not scheduled to attend that session, but could
be called upon to appear if the Rangoon Divisional Court agrees
to hear evidence rejected by the lower court. ASSK's lawyers
plan to contend that her prosecution was baseless because the
1974 Constitution and corresponding laws are no longer valid.
Furthermore, they plan to argue that ASSK did not violate a
prohibition on communication with outsiders because she did
not seek to directly communicate with American John Yettaw;
rather he initiated communication with her.


3. (C) After the Divisional Court hears the appeal,
theoretically it can either uphold the lower court ruling,
reduce the sentence, or overturn the conviction. During
a past meeting, Nyan Win told us he expects the Divisional
Court appeal process could last two-three weeks. ASSK's
legal team plans to exercise all options for appeal, a
multi-stage process that could last until the end of
2009 (Ref B).

Comment
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4. (C) The Divisional Court's decision to consider the
appeal is no surprise. As with ASSK's initial trial and
associated legal proceedings regarding the admission of
witnesses, the authorities continue to take pains to
portray a legitimate legal process. Nonetheless, as
ASSK's lawyer Kyi Win (aka Neville) observed
recently (Ref B),ultimately only Than Shwe himself will
decide when ASSK will go free.

VAJDA