A verdict in the trial of Burma (Myanmar) opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will come on Friday, a court official said, after her lawyers wrapped up their final arguments in the case against her on security charges.
The official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that her trial had been completed, although cases against three other defendants are continuing.
Journalists have been banned from attending the trial, but a handful of foreign diplomats have been invited occasionally as observers.
A guilty verdict is widely expected in Burma, where the courts have in the past been known to favour the ruling military junta. It was not clear if any sentence would come on Friday.
"We have done our best and she is prepared for the worst," Me Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, told reporters. "We don't want to speculate, but we will keep exploring all legal avenues."
Ms Suu Kyi (64) is on trial for allowing American intruder John Yettaw to stay at her Yangon home in May, when she was under house arrest. He had evaded security to swim across the Inya lake to the house.
She faces five years in prison if convicted.
Before today's court proceedings, Nyan Win said the prosecution's final arguments were flawed.
"It isn't a sound argument if looked at from the legal angle," he added.
The defence's request for an official from Burma's foreign ministry to appear in court today had been rejected, Nyan Win said.
He had hoped to argue that Ms Suu Kyi had not breached any house arrest terms because, officially, she was only being held in "protective custody".
With final arguments in Ms Suu Kyi's case over, the court reconvened today to hear counter-arguments in defence of Yettaw and two of the Nobel laureate's housemaids, who are all charged under the same security law.
Their lawyers say the legislation, drafted by the junta to protect the state from "subversive elements", is not even applicable since it was abolished several decades ago.
The international community has expressed outrage at the trial, demanding the case be scrapped and dismissing it as an effort by the junta to keep Ms Suu Kyi out of next year's elections.
The National League for Democracy leader has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.
Critics are concerned the polls will be rigged to give legitimacy to the regime and entrench nearly half a century of army rule.
Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the title of "Ambassador of Conscience" by rights group Amnesty International last for being a "symbol of hope, courage and the undying defence of human rights" around the world.
Reuters