Myanmar court upholds bans on Suu Kyi witnesses

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - A court in military-ruled Myanmar has upheld bans on two defence witnesses in the widely-condemned trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said on Monday.

The Supreme Court in Yangon ruled that a lower court's ban on Win Tin, a senior member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), and the party's vice-chairman, Tin Oo, were lawful and the pair should not be allowed to testify.

"The Supreme Court has turned the appeal down. We still have to talk and decide what we should do," lawyer Nyan Win told Reuters.

Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to stay at her home last month, which prosecutors said was a breach of a security law protecting the state from "subversive elements".

Nyan Win said the Supreme Court decided Tin Oo was ineligible as a witness because he was currently under house arrest.

Win Tin, an 80-year-old journalist who served 19 years in prison, was barred because he had criticised the regime on Burmese-language broadcast networks.

Suu Kyi's trial is due to resume at the Yangon District Court on July 3, with testimony expected from the Nobel laureate's one remaining defence witness, Khin Moe Moe, a legal expert.

Diplomats and media reports said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was preparing to visit Myanmar on the same day for talks with the ruling generals.