The verdict in the show trial of Burmese democracy and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, which was supposed to be announced today, has been postponed until mid-August for still unclear reasons.
Suu Kyi is charged with violating a detention order and may face a five-year jail sentence for allowing an American to stay for two days after he swam to her lakeside home in Yangon. She denies the charges.
Daniel Ten Kate at Bloomberg News reports on this story and quotes Suu Kyi’s U.S. based lawyer suggesting Myanmar may have a strategy in delaying the verdict.
“It is in some ways a smart move — push off the verdict until the middle of August when numerous government and United Nations officials around the world will be on vacation,” Jared Genser, Suu Kyi’s U.S.-based legal counsel, said in a statement.
“It remains to be seen whether this ploy will work or if anticipation will be heightened in the run-up to the issuance of the verdict.”
Not to argue with Mr. Genser who is truly doing God’s work to free Suu Kyi, but I hardly think we’d see much change in Suu Kyi’s situation even if on the day the verdict was handed down, every United Nations worker was sitting stick straight at their desks ready for work.