Suu Kyi deputy to be released

2010-02-04 12:11

Yangon - The detained deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in military-ruled Myanmar should be released next week and is set to resume political activities, a party spokesperson said on Thursday.

Tin Oo, 83, vice chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been detained without trial since he was arrested with Suu Kyi after an attack on their motorcade during a political tour in 2003.

"We are waiting and watching. They (the government) have to release him as the continued arrest order finishes next week," NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said.

"He will definitely come back to the office," he said, adding that the detention should end on February 13.

Tin Oo, a retired general, was transferred from prison to house arrest in Yangon in February 2004 under an anti-subversion law.

Landslide victory

He has been allowed to leave his home for medical check-ups, and Nyan Win said the detainee's health was "fine" after having an eye operation at a private clinic a few days ago.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990, but the junta never allowed them to take office. The party leader and democracy icon Suu Kyi, 64, has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.

Analysts have said she faces an urgent challenge to shake up the party leadership committee, as the majority are in their 80s and 90s and most are said to be in bad health.

Suu Kyi's own house arrest was extended for 18 months in August when she was convicted over an incident in which an American man swam to her house.

The sentence sparked international outrage as it is expected to keep her off the scene for elections promised by the junta sometime this year, although a date has not yet been announced.

The opposition has been deeply suspicious of the planned polls, which it sees as a plot to legitimise the junta's five decade iron-fisted rule.

Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo reportedly told a meeting of local officials in central Myanmar in December that Suu Kyi would be released in November.

Suu Kyi has described the comments as "unfair" as they pre-empt a court decision on an appeal against her conviction, which is expected in the coming weeks, Nyan Win said.

- SAPA