Sanctions loom as Suu Kyi trial starts

YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial yesterday and faces a further five years in detention, sparking threats of tougher Western sanctions against the Myanmar government.

Suu Kyi, charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest after an American intruder sneaked into her home this month, was in good spirits as the closed-door trial began in Yangon's Insein prison, her lawyers said.

"She looked quite well. She said she was OK," Nyan Win, a lawyer and spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), told reporters.