Even though Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi will apparently be released one week after the elections in Burma, the international community must not ease the pressure on the country's leaders to finally allow basic human rights and democratization. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) made this demand on Friday. "We wish to warn emphatically of the danger of overrating the significance of her release," urged Ulrich Delius of the STP's Asia section. "Lifting the house arrest is not a sign that Burma is opening up to democracy," warned Delius. "The military junta condemned the opposition leader in an unfair trial and made her serve every last day of the 18-month house arrest sentence. Furthermore, Burma's leaders changed the constitution so that critics of the regime can no longer serve in high public office, and splintered the opposition was before the elections," Delius pointed out.

"It is to be feared that Burma's rulers will soon find another excuse to lock up the Nobel Prize winner," stated Delius. Charismatic opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi spent more than 15 of the past 21 years in the custody of security agencies. Many of her house arrests were served in series, without a break.

With its changes to the constitution, Burma state leaders have banned Aung San Suu Kyi permanently from any political leadership position. Article 59 of the new constitution, effective since 2008, states that the president and his or her family members must be Burmese citizens. Aung San Suu Kyi's late husband was a citizen of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, article 121 of the constitution states that nobody who has been convicted of a crime can be elected to the parliament.

"Even if Aung San Suu Kyi is not locked up again, she will hardly be able to fulfill people's expectations of her," said Delius. Prior to the elections, the junta systematically divided and crushed the democratic opposition. This was seen in the actions of the opposition in recent elections: Some dissidents took part in the elections, while Aung San Suu Kyi called for a boycott. Burma's rulers also banned the Nobel Peace Prize winner's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). "Aung San Suu Kyi is very highly regarded throughout the population, as well as among dissidents. But the years of forced isolation will make it difficult for her to unite the splintered opposition," stated Delius.

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford