Aung San Suu Kyi seeks to revive party

YANGON, Myanmar — Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seeking to revive her political party in military-run Myanmar by launching an appeal to the Supreme Court of a ruling that upheld its banning, her lawyers said Thursday. Suu Kyi, who freed from house arrest in November, has sent her team of lawyers to the capital of Naypyitaw to submit the appeal, said one of the lawyers, Nyan Win. The legal move appears to be largely symbolic, since Myanmar's courts invariably adhere to the junta's policies, especially on political matters. Previous appeals by Suu Kyi to the courts, on matters such as her detention, have been shunted aside or dismissed. A similar appeal in November to restore the National League for Democracy was dismissed. The party lost its legal status because it failed to reregister in order to take part in general elections that month, claiming the balloting would be neither free nor fair. The elections were swept by a party close to the ruling military junta, and the opening session of the new Parliament is scheduled for Jan. 31. Nyan Win told earlier told reporters that the state Election Commission does not have the authority to dissolve the NLD, which was registered under a previous party registration law. Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in the last election in 1990, but was not allowed to take power by the military. The 65-year old Nobel prize laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. Her last period of detention lasted seven years. — AP