Suu Kyi Pleads Not Guilty, Blames Regime's Security

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded not guilty today to charges she violated terms of her house arrest, Reuters reports. She blamed the regime’s lax security for allowing an American to swim to her lakeside home. Asked if she was guilty, Suu Kyi answered, “no, because I did not commit any crime.” Furthermore, “if the security had been proper, he would not have got here.”

John Yettaw, who stayed in the home for two days before being apprehended, had a different defense: “I am not guilty because I had a dream about the assassination of Aung San Suu Kyi and I came to warn her.” Asked why he swam, Yettaw replied, “because I could not walk on water.” A government official said the whole affair is designed to “intensify international pressure on Myanmar.” (More Aung San Suu Kyi stories.)