The trial of Burma's former prime minister Khin Nyunt begins today in the country's notorious Insein prison in Rangoon. He was indicted last week on eight charges, including bribery, corruption and insubordination, according to government sources.
The former prime minister goes on trial just as Burma's military rulers released hundreds of political prisoners. Some key political activists, including several elected MPs and a renowned journalist, were among those freed. Diplomats in Rangoon believe this may be the junta's way of distracting attention from the trial.
Total secrecy and massive security surrounds Khin Nyunt's trial. The junta is totally tight-lipped over the whereabouts of Khin Nyunt and are desperate to keep the whole charade under wraps, said an Asian diplomat in Rangoon.
General Khin Nyunt was appointed prime minister in August 2003 and within days announced a seven-point roadmap to democracy. These included drafting a new constitution, putting it to a referendum, holding new free and fair elections and forming an interim coalition civilian administration.
But Khin Nyunt and the country's top general Than Shwe could not agree on allowing the pro-democracy parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, to participate in the National Convention which is drafting the guidelines for the new constitution.
Things came to a head last October when Khin Nuynt was arrested, when Than Shwe finally decided the intelligence chief was a serious challenge to his power and authority.
At the time the junta said he had been allowed to retire because of ill health. But clearly he had been unceremoniously sacked. He has been under house arrest ever since.
Military intelligence was disbanded and thousands thrown out on their ears. Khin Nyunt's supporters in the government were also purged. Even students who were admitted to college and university who had been recommended by Khin Nyunt's people were all expelled. More than 50 senior military intelligence officers were sentenced to hundreds of years of imprisonment for economic crimes and corruption.
The former government leader may now be facing the death penalty, according to Burmese legal experts. But few believe a death sentence would be carried out. He is more likely to be kept in prison along with the other senior members of military intelligence.
Three Supreme Court judges have been assigned to the bench of a special court established inside Insein prison to hear the case against the former premier.
Khin Nyunt was taken last Tuesday from his home to Insein with his wife, though she has not been charged with anything at the moment, according to former military intelligence sources.
She insisted on accompanying her husband to the prison, according to a former military intelligence source.
Khin Nyunt's two sons have already been tried in a special court in Insein prison. Ye Naing Win, a businessman and owner of the independent internet provider Bagan Cybertech, is facing 33 counts of economic crimes, infringements of currency exchange regulations and corruption. The other son, military officer Lieutenant-Colonel Zaw Naing Oo, is facing more than 10 charges.
The two are now due to be sentenced on Friday, though this is the fifth consecutive week that the court has been scheduled to announce the verdict in their trial. But with Khin Nyunt's trial starting this week, it makes it more likely that the sons will be finally officially found guilty and sentenced. They are expected to be sentenced to more than 400 years each in prison.
Three other former Burmese government ministers, including the ex-foreign minister Win Aung, were arrested a week ago and are also expected to stand trial for economic crimes and corruption in the near future.
The former agriculture minister Nyunt Tin and his son Thar Gyi were arrested because of the family's involvement in a foreign exchange and import licence scam which netted more than $10 million, mainly from the government ministries and economic agencies, the Myanmar Economic Bank and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited.
More than 30 businessmen also cheated, including many of the top generals' children _ Than Shwe's sons, the number two general Maung Aye's daughter and Burma's top businessman and Than Shwe's closest confidant, Tay Za were cheated.
When Nyunt Tin was arrested, the authorities seized more than 30 unlicensed cars smuggled into the country and five boxes of gold and jewellery. The former agriculture minister was sacked last September when Than Shwe launched his campaign against Khin Nyunt.
Nyunt Tin was sacked for excessive corruption, according to Burmese government sources. The agriculture minister and his family were notorious for their involvement in corruption.
The former home minister Tin Hlaing and the former foreign minister Win Aung were also arrested. Information collected during the interrogation of the two ministers, who were two of Khin Nyunt's closest confidants, may be used in the trial against the former premier. They are both expected to appear as witnesses at Khin Nyunt's trial.
''The news of the ministers' arrests has shocked many senior members of the former regime. Many fear there will be more arrests in the coming weeks,'' said a Western diplomat in Rangoon.
The day after Khin Nyunt was moved to Insein the regime began to release hundreds of jailed political activists. Several leading politicians and renowned prisoners, including a leading journalist and NLD activist were freed in what was probably the biggest single release of political prisoners since the military seized power nearly 17 years ago.
Diplomats in Rangoon are delighted and bewildered by the sudden and unexpected mass release political prisoners. Some fear it was an attempt to create a diversion and deflect interest in Khin Nyunt's trial. Others believe it may be even more directly related to the accusations against the former prime minister.
When he was dumped as prime minister his replacement, General Soe Win, suggested that one of his crimes was to allow his military intelligence officers to be overzealous in their handling and imprisonment of people.
Last November and December more than 20,000 prisoners were freed, although only a handful of them were political activists. One of them was the prominent student leader Min Ko Naing.
These recent releases of political prisoners may also be used to help create the impression that many of the country's problems were the result of Khin Nyunt and his supporters.
But Asian diplomats fear the release of political prisoners may mean the regime has now decided to press on with taking the chairmanship of the regional grouping, Asean. In the past year, there has been mounting international pressure, especially from the United States and the European Union, on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to block Burma's chairmanship in 2006, because of Rangoon's continued detention of the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and its failure to introduce political change.
For several months now, Asean leaders have believed the junta would voluntarily stand down, especially after the foreign ministers' retreat on the Philippine island of Cebu in April. But Southeast Asian diplomats now fear that Rangoon is determined to take the chairmanship next year.
The release of political prisoners is likely to be used to show that progress is being made on the national reconciliation process, according to a senior Asean diplomat who regularly deals with Burma. But that is unlikely to convince anyone while the world's most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest.