Suu Kyi trial restarts after Burma snubs plea by UN

The widely condemned trial of the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi resumed yesterday, a week after the country's military rulers ignored a plea from the UN chief to drop security charges against her. She faces five years in prison if found guilty of breaking a draconian security law that protects the state from "subversive elements".

The Northern District Court heard testimony from a legal expert, Khin Moe Moe, 64-year-old Ms Suu Kyi's remaining defence witness. The court agreed to adjourn final arguments until 24 July. "We were with her at the trial today and she is in good health," said Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win.

Ms Suu Kyi allowed an American intruder to stay for two days at her lakeside home in Rangoon in May, which the authorities said was in breach of her house arrest terms. The American, John Yettaw, and two of Ms Suu Kyi's housemaids, are charged under the same law, legislation her legal team says is obsolete.

The trial has been dismissed as an attempt to keep the Nobel laureate, below, out of planned multi-party elections next year. Britain's charge d'affaires in Rangoon, Jeremy Hodges, was told authority for him to observe the proceedings had not come through. "The trial fails to meet the most basic standards of Burmese law and international practice," Mr Hodges said. "The military regime has taken powers that allow them to suspend what even they accept are established legal rights."