WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama called Tuesday for the immediate and unconditional release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for subversion.
Aung San Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989 after mass protests against the military government.
Obama said the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s detention is “arbitrary” and “unjustified” in accordance with the findings of a United Nations group looking into the matter.
“I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also been condemned around the world,” Obama said in a statement.
“Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention, isolation and show trial, based on spurious charges, cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime’s willingness to be a responsible member of the international community,” he said. “This is an important opportunity for the government in Burma to demonstrate that it respects its own laws and its own people.”
