STATEMENT BY THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ON AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S SENTENCE

August 12, 2009
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Following is a statement issued today by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Aung San Suu Kyi s sentence:
 I deplore the ongoing persecution of a democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for almost a quarter of a century. I am seriously disturbed by her arbitrary detention and the basis of charges against her, an event that was clearly beyond her control, with the court failing to properly review the legitimacy of her house arrest in the first instance. 
I join the call of the Secretary-General on the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, together with the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, including those who are facing particularly harsh sentences for simply exercising their freedom of expression, such as the two National League for Democracy candidates elected as members of Parliament in 1990, but who were subsequently arrested and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment for expressing concerns to the Secretary-General through the form of a letter.