U.S. CONDEMNS SLORC'S JAILING OF OP

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Subject: U.S. CONDEMNS SLORC'S JAILING OF OPPOSITION MEMBERS

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuter) - The United States on Tuesday strongly
condemned the jailing of four opposition figures in Burma and denied that
Washington was involved in sponsoring terrorist attacks in the Asian country. 

Burma's military government announced on Sunday that three relatives of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been sentenced to 10 years each, in
part for breaching the country's Unlawful Associations Act. 

A fourth person, Myo Aung Thant, was jailed for life for high treason and
allegedly smuggling explosives into Burma. 

``The U.S. strongly condemns the lack of due process in the trial and
sentencing of these four individuals,'' State Department spokesman James
Rubin said. 

``The fact that these harsh sentences were imposed after closed trials once
again illustrates the completely opaque judicial process in Burma,'' Rubin
said in a statement. 

He said the United States ``also rejects once again the outrageous charge
that the U.S. was involved in sponsoring terrorist attacks in Burma.'' He
did not say who had made the charge. 

Among the charges against the three relatives of Aung San Suu Kyi was that
they helped U.S. non-governmental organizations smuggle $82,200 to her. 

The U.S. statement noted that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), had denied receiving any
money from such U.S. organizations. 

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990, but the military rulers in
Rangoon refused to recognize the result. REUTER 

23:34 08-19-97