EU extends sanctions against Myanmar after Suu Kyi trial

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union on Thursday broadened its sanctions against Myanmar after the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, as the UN Security Council failed to adopt a US text condemning her extended detention.

Brussels imposed a visa ban and asset freeze on members of the judiciary and in what it called "targeted measures," the 27 EU nations widened the bloc's existing assets freeze to cover businesses "owned and controlled by members of the regime" and their associates.

The moves were taken "in reaction to the verdict against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and given the gravity of the violation of her fundamental rights," the European Council said in a written statement.

It was approved, via a written procedure, by all 27 EU capitals.

Under the new restrictive measures "members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict are added to the existing list of persons and entities subject to a travel ban and to an assets freeze," the statement said.

The European Union said the trial had been "unjustified" and the statement called for Suu Kyi's "unconditional release".

The court at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison on Tuesday sentenced Suu Kyi to three years' imprisonment and hard labour for breaching the terms of her house arrest after a US national swam to her lakeside residence in May.

Than Shwe, head of the ruling junta, commuted the sentence to 18 months' house arrest but the trial and the verdict have created international outrage.

Also convicted along with 64-year-old Suu Kyi was US citizen John Yettaw, who triggered her trial with his bizarre swimming stunt. He was sentenced to seven years hard labour.

The sentence against Suu Kyi means she will remain in detention during elections promised by the junta next year.

The EU's sanctions targetted those in the military regime "who benefit most from its misrule, and those who actively frustrate the process of national reconciliation, respect for human rights and progress towards democracy," the European Council said.

Later Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed a watered-down text expressing "serious concern" at the extended detention of Myanmar's democracy icon and calling anew for all political prisoners to be freed.

China, Russia, Vietnam and Libya had blocked a tougher US draft, which would have condemned Aung San Suu's sentencing and called on the Myanmar government to release her and other political prisoners.

The four countries invoked the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of a UN member state.

Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers, the council chair this month, read out the agreed statement on behalf of all 15 members.

He described it as "an important expression of serious concern about the outcome" of the Suu Kyi trial.

"I think we all know that different members of the Security Council have different views on the situation there and that the strong views in various Western capitals are not entirely shared in countries elsewhere," Sawers noted.

The European Union slapped its first set of sanctions on Myanmar in 1996, banning arms exports, imposing visa restrictions on junta allies and families, limiting diplomatic contacts and freezing officials' offshore accounts.

New measures were taken in 2007 after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks, banning European firms from importing wood, minerals, gems and metals from Myanmar.

The detailed list of the individuals and companies targeted in the latest round of sanctions will be published later in the European Union's official journal.

Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in elections in 1990.