Rangoon Supreme Court has given Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi special leave to appeal against the extension by 18 months of her house arrest, one of her lawyer’s said on Monday.

After the Supreme Court had rejected her first appeal against the court verdict on her house arrest on February 26, she resubmitted the special appeal and the court has accepted, lawyer Kyi Win said.

“We have the right to submit the special appeal, so we are continuing to pursue the legal action. We submitted the special appeal letter today and the Supreme Court has accepted it”, Kyi Win told Mizzima.

The appeal rejected in February was heard by two Supreme Court judges. This time, it will be heard by three judges on a date to be declared soon, the lawyer said. If Ms. Suu Kyi wins the fresh appeal, a chief judge from the capital, Naypyidaw, will hear the case; if she loses, there are no further legal avenues open to her.

Ms. Suu Kyi and her lawyers would meet to discuss the lawsuit in the next few days, Kyi Win said. The Nobel Peace laureate was charged with breach of the terms of her house arrest over US citizen John Yettaw’s uninvited visit to her crumbling villa after he swam across Inya Lake in Rangoon.

The Rangoon North District Court on August 11 sentenced her to three years in jail under section 22 of the 1975 State Protection Law. But junta leader Senior General Than Shwe commuted her sentence to 18 months and ordered it to be served under house arrest.

The separate appeals for Suu Kyi companions Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, filed by their lawyer, Hla Myo Myint, on May 7, were also accepted by the Supreme Court. The North District Court had sentenced the mother and daughter to three years in prison under section 22/109 of the penal code, for abetting breach of the detention law. Their sentences were also commuted to 18 months, to be also served under house arrest with Ms. Suu Kyi.