Suu Kyi, U.S. visitor go on trial

YANGON, Myanmar, May 18 (UPI) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the U.S. man who visited her went on trial Monday behind closed doors in a prison compound.

Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said her lawyer asked the court to open the hearings but was refused, CNN reported.

Police erected roadblocks on streets leading to the Insein Prison near Yangon. A group of diplomats from Germany, Italy, Australia and Britain tried to pass through the barricades to attend the trial, but were turned away, CNN said.

Outside the prison were about 100 supporters of Suu Kyi, the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years.

The U.S. visitor, John Yettaw of Falcon, Mo., was charged with immigration violations and trespassing into a restrictive area. He is accused of staying overnight in Suu Kyi's home earlier in May, violating the conditions of her house arrest, the country's ruling military junta said.

Suu Kyi and two maids were detained under a section of the country's legal code dealing with subversion, Win said.

Suu Kyi had been scheduled to be released from house arrest later in May, but followers said they suspect leaders of the country, formerly known as Burma, will use the incident to extend her confinement.