KUALA LUMPUR - At least 30 supporters of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi held a noisy demonstration outside the country's mission here Thursday to demand her release.

During the brief protest, the Myanmar nationals shouted slogans such as "We want democracy," and "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" and carried placards with the words: "We oppose the 2010 elections."

"The protest is to press the military junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders," Thein Aung, 38, told AFP.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in May.

Authorities in Myanmar have accused her of covering up the American's presence and have rebuked her for offering him food and shelter.

The trial, the latest episode in a nearly two-decade test of wills between the pro-democracy champion and Myanmar's ruling junta, has provoked an international outcry.

But leaders have dismissed outside criticism, saying the trial was an internal matter.

The junta headed by reclusive Senior General Than Shwe has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for a total of 13 years since 1990, when it refused to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections.

The military has ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1962 and critics say next year's elections are a sham as they will be held under a new constitution which gives the army a role in any government. -AFP