SPEAKER British Ambassador in Burma, Andrew Heyn

DATE 18/09/2009

British Ambassador in Burma, Andrew Heyn, spoke to BBC world TV about Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal.

Read the transcript

Well we can go to Andrew Heyn in Rangoon, he's the British Ambassador.  Andrew Heyn we’ve had some reports from some lawyers saying that they’re optimistic that Aung San Suu Kyi could actually win this appeal.  What is being said in Burma?

Andrew Heyn (Ambassador to Burma):  Well good evening.  I have to be honest it’s rather hard to be an optimist here.  I think in the eyes of the international community the original case was simply a vehicle to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi remained in detention until after the elections next year.  And it’s for that reason that the UK, the EU and the wider international community, including significantly many of Burma’s regional partners, reacted so strongly to that guilty verdict, so it’s encouraging to hear there are some optimists out there but it has to be guarded optimism at best.

Female Presenter:  Is it a delicate situation for ambassadors like yourself that if you intervene too much it could backfire with the authorities, I mean what is the general balance?

AH:  I think it’s up to ambassadors here to represent the views of their host Governments and as a whole the international community and that’s something that we do here with our European Union partners.  And we support the statements that are made by Ministers, of course as in any country there’s a careful balance about what you do but the European Union has been pretty forward both here in Rangoon and also internationally in making our views clear on the importance of a fair and open elections next year and a move to a properly democratic state here.

Female Presenter:  And how much access did Ambassadors like yourself get to the hearing of the, when the trial itself had first started they did open the court but then quickly shut it?

AH:  Yes there were various hearings that we were allowed to attend, we weren’t at today’s hearing for example. But I was there with a wide number of members of the diplomatic community for the announcement of the verdict and both I and my predecessor had been able to attend some of the court hearings previous to that.  But as you say the door was opened and then closed and then opened again, it was never quite clear from the hearing to hearing whether we would be allowed in.

Female Presenter:  Ambassador Heyn thank you very much for making time to speak to us from Rangoon.

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