The trial of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has resumed after a six-week adjournment and a week after a failed bid by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to meet her during a visit to Myanmar.

Ms Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which the US national John Yettaw swam to her lakeside home in May. The Nobel Peace Laureate has spent almost 14 of the past 19 years in detention - most of them in her home - since the regime refused to recognise the National League for Democracy's landslide victory in Myanmar's last democratic polls in 1990.

The trial is being conducted behind closed doors at the notorious Insein prison in Yangon and is considered a ruse to prevent Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD from taking part in elections next year. Last week, Mr Ban was in Myanmar to plead with the country's military general to free political prisoners, including Ms Suu Kyi. Analysts say he left with nothing to show for his efforts and that the junta leaders seem even more impervious to international criticism.

Protesters in London by totaloutnow (flickr)