A court in Burma (Myanmar) today adjourned the trial on security charges of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with a verdict now expected next month, court and diplomatic sources said.
One diplomatic source said the verdict was now expected on August 11th. That date was also confirmed by a court source who had earlier said it could come on August 12th.
"The judge said he was adjourning the trial because of the need to interpret legal terms relating to the 1974 constitution," said the diplomat, who had attended the proceedings.
Journalists have been barred from the trial.
Ms Suu Kyi is charged under Section 22 of an internal security law to protect the state from "subversive elements" after American John Yettaw swam across the Inya lake to her home in Yangon on May 4th, where he stayed, uninvited, for two days.
Her lawyers have argued that she should be acquitted because the law she is charged under was part of the 1974 constitution, a charter that is no longer in use.
A guilty verdict is widely expected in a country where the courts routinely favour the military junta, which has ruled Burma since a 1962 coup.
The international community has expressed outrage over the trial and made repeated demands for the charges to be dropped and Ms Suu Kyi be freed. The junta has ignored the calls and told its critics not to meddle in its internal affairs.
Opponents of the military government say the trial is an attempt to keep Ms Suu Kyi in detention before and during elections next year, which they say will be a sham intended to legitimise the regime.
Reuters