YANGON: Myanmar's Supreme Court announced Friday that it would hold a hearing on Oct.18 on detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's latest appeal against her house arrest. The judges will decide whether to consider the “special appeal”, according to a notice posted in front of the Supreme Court in the former capital Yangon. The Nobel peace laureate's current term of house arrest is due to end on Nov.13, just days after national elections that critics say are aimed at simply entrenching the junta's power. Suu Kyi lodged the last-ditch appeal in May. She has already had her appeal rejected twice, most recently by the Supreme Court in February. Court verdicts in the army-ruled country rarely favor opposition activists. The democracy icon, who has spent most of the past two decades locked up, had her detention lengthened by 18 months in August last year after being convicted over a bizarre incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside home. The extension of her detention after a prison trial sparked international outrage as it effectively keeps her off the stage for the elections. On Tuesday, Suu Kyi filed a lawsuit against the junta at the Supreme Court for dissolving her party ahead of the widely criticised polls. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has been forcibly abolished for boycotting the Nov. 7 vote. The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was never allowed to take office. The party decided to boycott next month's polls in response to rules barring serving prisoners – such as Suu Kyi – from participating. – Agence France
