Nobel laureates urge Myanmar to restore rights of Aung San Suu Kyi

Nobel Peace Prize laureates urged Myanmar on Saturday to restore the civil and human rights of fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest in Yangon, most recently since mid-2003.

The statement added that "we appeal to the government of Myanmar to reintroduce the civil, human and political rights of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters totally, immediately and without reservations. Justice demands it."

Myanmar's current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement and two years later it annulled the results of a general election that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. She was put under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again in September 2000 until May 6, 2002.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureates meet every year in Rome at a gathering organized by the Gorbachev Foundation and city hall. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, AP reports.

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