YANGON – Lawyers for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday prepared to counter claims by the prosecution that she breached the country's security laws.

The Nobel laureate's lawyer, Nyan Win, said his team would have a final chance to present evidence to prove the charges against her were irrelevant.

Suu Kyi, 64, is on trial for allowing American intruder John Yettaw to stay at her Yangon home after he evaded security and swam across the Inya lake to her house. She faces five years in prison if convicted.

It isn't a sound argument if looked at from the legal angle, Nyan Win said of the prosecution's case.

He said he had requested that an official from Myanmar's Foreign Ministry appear in court so he could prove that Suu Kyi had not breached any house arrest terms because, officially, she was only being held in protective custody.

The court is also expected to hear counter-arguments in defense of Yettaw and two of Suu Kyi's housemates, who are all charged under the same security law, which their lawyers say is not even applicable since it was abolished several decades ago.

It was not known if the prosecution would be given the chance to argue their case further. Journalists have been banned from attending the trial, although a handful of foreign diplomats have been invited occasionally as observers.

The international community has expressed outrage at the trial, demanding the case be scrapped and dismissing it as an effort by the junta to keep Suu Kyi out of next year's elections.

Critics are concerned the polls will be rigged to give legitimacy to the regime and entrench nearly half a century of army rule.

Suu Kyi was awarded the title of Ambassador of Conscience by rights group Amnesty International Monday for being a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defense of human rights around the world.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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