As house arrest nears end, Suu Kyi faces new charges

Nobel Prize-winning pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced new charges Thursday, less than two weeks before her house arrest was to end, after an American man swam across a lake and entered her home, her lawyer said.

Supporters accused the military government of using the incident to keep her in detention before elections scheduled for next year.

Suu Kyi, whose detention was to end May 27, could face a prison term of up to five years if convicted, said lawyer Hla Myo Myint. The trial is to start Monday at a special court at the notorious Insein Prison, where she was arraigned Thursday.

She is accused of breaking the terms of her detention by harboring the visitor for two days, even though another of Suu Kyi’s lawyers said she told the man to leave her home.

“Everyone is very angry with this wretched American. He is the cause of all these problems,” lawyer Kyi Win said.

Human rights groups said they feared the trial would be used to justify another extension of Suu Kyi’s yearslong detention despite international demands for her release. The 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years -- including the last six -- in detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy.

The motives of the American, John William Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Mo., remained unclear.

“I know that John is harmless and not politically motivated in any way,” his stepson, Paul Nedrow, wrote in an e-mail. “He did not want to cause Suu Kyi any trouble.”