Carla Bruni (right) says it's time Myanmar’s junta freed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, jailed for 13 of the past 19 years. Photos / AP
In an open letter entitled "Why Aung San Suu Kyi must be freed", Carla Bruni-Sarkozy said that Suu Kyi's poor health meant that her life could be at threat if she was sent to prison.
Suu Kyi is being tried on charges she violated conditions of her most recent house arrest by sheltering an American who swam to her lakeside home this month.
She had been scheduled for release from house arrest at the end of May but now faces up to five years' imprisonment.
"It's a question of simple humanity to allow a sick woman to be freed so she may get herself treated properly,"
"To imprison her, and all of the regime's opponents, is to smother any hope for democracy in Burma," said the letter.
Bruni-Sarkozy said she was speaking on behalf of those in France who "find the fate reserved for this woman intolerable. "
