YANGON: Myanmar’s junta-controlled media warned today against predictions of a guilty

verdict in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, as the democracy leader braced for a judgement at the end of the week.

A government mouthpiece newspaper said anticipating Friday’s ruling would amount to contempt of court, even as diplomats said they expected

Suu Kyi to be convicted of charges that carry

a maximum five-year jail term.

The New Light of Myanmar daily said the Nobel Peace Prize winner had indeed broken the law when she allowed an American man to stay at her home after he swam uninvited to her lakeside property in May.

But an editorial in the daily said, “There should be no prediction about who is guilty or who is not guilty until the court passes the judgement.” The two-page editorial alleged that Suu Kyi could

have called for security when John Yettaw was discovered at the house but instead she “received the intruder” for two nights and provided him with food, lodging and clothes.

“Doesn’t it violate the law?” the news-paper said.