Myanmar minister says Suu Kyi to be freed Nov - witnesses

A file photo of Aung San Suu Kyi (L) in Yangon November 4, 2009. San Suu Kyi will be freed when her house arrest ends in November, according to a government minister quoted by witnesses on Monday, but critics said that may be too late for this year's elections.

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed when her house arrest ends in November, according to a government minister quoted by witnesses on Monday, but critics said that may be too late for this year's elections.

Home Minister Major General Maung Oo told a Jan. 21 meeting of businessmen and local officials the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner would be released in November, a month after many observers expect Myanmar to hold its first parliamentary elections in two decades.

The information could not be verified independently but three people who attended the meeting said the comment was made to an audience of several hundred people in Kyaukpadaung, a town about 565 km (350 miles) north of the former capital, Yangon.

The three witnesses requested anonymity and Myanmar Home Ministry officials could not confirm the comments were made.

Suu Kyi, detained for 15 of the past 21 years, was sentenced to a further 18 months of detention last August for harbouring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home, raising questions over whether the election will be a sham.

That incident took place in May 2009, just before an earlier period of house arrest was due to end. Taking into account the three months she spent in a prison guesthouse after the incident, her 18-month sentence would end in November.

The planned election would be the first since 1990, when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party scored a landslide victory that the country's junta refused to recognise.

Maung Oo also said 82-year-old NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo, a former defence minister and retired general, would be released on Feb. 13 after 10 years in detention.

NO CHEATING

The minister said the government would pursue an international-style market economy after holding "free and fair" elections, including loosening restrictions on car imports.

"We are not a power crazy government," Maung Oo was quoted as telling the meeting in Kyaukpadaung.

"The election will be held in 2010 without fail. I promise the election will be free and fair, there will be no cheating."

Senior NLD official Khin Maung Swe said it was crucial Suu Kyi and Tin Oo were released before the election.

"The most important thing is they must be freed in good time so that they can work for national reconciliation," he said.

The military junta has not set a date for the vote but has promised U.S. President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders the vote would be free, fair and inclusive.

In recent months Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet the junta's liaison officer and foreign diplomats.

The NLD has not yet said whether it would take part in the elections, portrayed by the generals as a move to a multi-party democracy but derided by opponents as a sham designed to let the army retain real power.

The United States and others are reviewing policy towards the former Burma after years of sanctions and trade embargoes failed to get the junta to improve its human rights record or relax its grip on power.

Obama has offered Myanmar the prospect of better ties with Washington if it pursued democratic reform and freed political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

In a report released last week, Human Rights Watch said the new constitution, promulgated in 2008, "entrenches military rule and limits the role of independent political parties".

Attacks on ethnic groups had not ceased and intimidation of political and human rights activists had increased, it said.

(Writing by Jason Szep and Martin Petty; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)