Suu Kyi's conviction, house arrest 'extremely regrettable': Nakasone+

TOKYO, Aug. 11 Kyodo -
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Tuesday he regrets the 18-month
suspended prison term given to Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and the
renewal of her house arrest after a court convicted her of violating the terms
of her house arrest.

''It is extremely regrettable that such a sentence was handed down despite our
calls for the Myanmar junta to heed the international community and deal with
the situation appropriately,'' Nakasone said in a statement, adding that Japan
had taken note of the halving of the original three-year sentence but still
regretted the situation in which the 64-year-old has been placed.
Nakasone also urged the junta to listen to international calls for the release
of all political prisoners and to speed up the process of democratization.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate and leader of the opposition National
League for Democracy, has spent nearly 14 years of the last two decades in jail
or under house arrest.
She has been detained at Yangon's Insein Prison since May 14 after an American
man swam across a lake and entered her home uninvited May 3, breaching the
terms of her house arrest and leading to the trial that was held within the
prison.
The trial drew stinging condemnation from the international community and
observers suggested it was used as a way to prevent her from playing any direct
role in national elections expected next year.
==Kyodo