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Suu Kyi seeks reinstatement of opposition party

By Sarah Miley

[JURIST] Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] filed a petition with Myanmar's High Court on Tuesday seeking to reinstate her opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) [party website]. Myanmar's military government formally abolished [BBC report] the NLD in May for failing to register for elections, which took place earlier this month. Suu Kyi had filed an appeal while under house arrest for the dissolution of her party under a controversial election law [JURIST reports]. Suu Kyi asked the court to annul the part of the election law that bars political prisoners [JURIST report] from participating in elections and also to establish a parliament of lawmakers who won in the 1990 elections. Suu Kyi originally filed suit with the court in April, but her claim was rejected [JURIST report]. The dissolution was seen as political move by the military government in order to keep the NLD from participating in Myanmar's 2010 elections, the first in 20 years.

Suu Kyi's visit to the High Court marked her first visit to Rangoon since the Myanmar Police Force [official website] released [JURIST report] her on Saturday after almost eight years of house arrest. Her release came days after the Myanmar Supreme Court rejected an appeal [JURIST report] challenging the conditions of her house arrest. Though the challenge was originally scheduled to be heard in October, the court waited until after the controversial elections [JURIST report] to issue its ruling. It is anticipated that Suu Kyi will assist in a challenge [AP report] against the election results in which the ruling party maintained its hold on power, but the military government has warned [Telegraph report] against any kind of action by the opposition.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on November 17, 2010 (boomark / email).