New Delhi – The US embassy in Rangoon said it will continue seeking consular access to ensure that the detained American citizen, John William Yettaw, has a lawyer to represent him in the trial that he is currently facing in Rangoon’s Insein prison.
Richard Mei, spokesperson of the US embassy in Rangoon told Mizzima on Thursday that consular officer Mr. Colin P. Furst was able to have a second meeting with Yettaw at the Insein prison court, where he stood trial, on Thursday.
“We will continue to seek consular access… We will make sure that he gets legal representation,” Mei told Mizzima.
Yettaw along with Burma’s Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and two of her party members – Daw Khin KHin Win and her daughter – who live with her and take care of her, were produced in a special court on Thursday morning.
While several other members of her party – National League for Democracy – were not allowed to enter the prison, Kyi Win, her lawyer and his assistant were permitted inside.
The court presided over by Rangoon’s Western District’s Justice Thawng Nyunt and Nyi Nyi Soe, charged Aung San Suu Kyi under section (22) of the act of breaching her detention law.
The court, after an initial hearing for a brief period, adjourned and the justice said the next hearing would be held on May 18, Monday.
Sources in the Opposition party, NLD, said party leader Aung San Suu Kyi had hired more lawyers – Nyan Win, Aung Thein, and Khin Htay Kywe – to represent her besides having Kyi Win and his assistant working on her case.
While the four of them were reportedly taken to a special cell in Insein prison, Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal physician Tin Myo Win, who was arrested last Thursday, was out of the scene on Thursday. It is still not known where he is being detained.
Burma’s state-run newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, last week had reported that Yettaw swam across the Innya Lake and entered the residence of Aung San Suu Kyi, where he stayed for three nights.
While there were speculations over the truth carried by the junta-owned newspaper, the US state department on Wednesday evening confirmed that Yettaw had gained access to the lakeside villa of detained Burmese democracy icon.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, the state department said, “the Burmese authorities granted consular access to John Yettaw, the detained American who had gained access to the residence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Repeated calls to the residence of Mr. Yettaw on Delta Road in Falcon, Missouri, were not answered.
