Two a penny

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AFP - French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on Monday appealed for the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been jailed and put on trial at a notorious Yangon prison.

The wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the Myanmar government to free the 63-year-old pro-democracy activist in an open letter made public by the Elysee presidential palace.

We now know that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate, once again risks being sentenced to a prison term which, given her state of health, would be life-threatening for her, wrote the first lady. .

The 41-year-old model-turned-singer said she wanted to be the voice of all those in my country who find the fate awaiting this woman to be intolerable.

The man, John Yettaw, earlier this month swam across a lake to her residence where she has been kept in virtual isolation for most of the last 19 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi is facing a five-year jail sentence on charges of harbouring an American at her home in violation of the terms of her house arrest.

The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi comes just days after she was taken from her lakeside property and imprisoned at a guest house inside the Insein prison compound.

This decision is all the more unacceptable given the Nobel Peace laureate’s state of health which has deteriorated over the past several days, they said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and human rights minister Rama Yade last week issued a joint statement saying they condemned in the strongest terms Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi - Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, said Thursday he will meet the Dalai Lama next month during a visit to Poland.

The Dalai Lama is a distinguished man, a man who inspires profound respect and I will have the opportunity to see him in Poland on December 6, Sarkozy said.

During a visit to France in August, the Dalai Lama met Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, human rights minister Rama Yade and first lady Carla Bruni.

The Tibetan spiritual leader and Sarkozy will both be attending ceremonies in Poland to mark the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Lech Walesa, the anti-communist union activist who later became president.

China maintains that a meeting with the Dalai Lama at an official level is tantamount to meddling in internal affairs.

But Sarkozy declined a meeting with the Buddhist leader after Beijing warned that such direct contact would have serious consequences for bilateral relations.

The Tibetans should not be subjected to repression and, like everyone else, they have a right to freedom, Sarkozy said at the Elysee palace.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for Tibet but the exiled leader has said he is seeking autonomy and religious freedom, not secession.

One does not justify the other, of course.

But at the same time, should we sever contact with one billion three hundred million Chinese who have made unquestionable progress over the past decade? Sarkozy added. . But if we do not go to Beijing, if we do not discuss, if we do not share our concerns, if we do not progress step-by-step, then how will we ensure that the idea that we have of respect for rights and freedoms will prevail? he said.

But Sarkozy decided to attend the ceremony and has since sought to put relations on a stronger footing.

Dalai Lama - Nicolas Sarkozy - Poland