Campaigners say the key to changing Myanmar lies with India, China and Russia – all of which have considerable financial and trade links with the regime, writes ANDREW BUNCOMBE Today marks the 62nd birthday of the pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman who has spent much of the last two decades either imprisoned or living under house-arrest at the command of one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Today she will have spent a total of 11 years and 238 days (4,253 days) in detention. She lives in isolation in a peeling lakeside villa on Yangons University Avenue, and visits to her are strictly controlled. Her phone line has been cut and her post is routinely intercepted.

Her current period of detention began on 30 May, 2003 when a convoy she was travelling in was attacked by a militia backed by the regime. Though she escaped the attack she was later imprisoned by the authorities. Around 100 of her supporters were reportedly killed. Today, her birthday will be marked by readings and performances of The Lady of Burma – a play about Suu Kyi by Richard Shannon – in seven countries and 11 locations around the UK.

At Westminster, Bollywood star Kabir Bedi will introduce an extract from the play, performed by actress Liana Gould. Why is Suu Kyi so loved by the Myanmarese people and so hated by the regime? More than just a democracy activist, The Lady as she is widely known, embodies the struggle of the Myanmarese people in the face of adversity. Her father, General Aung San, negotiated Myanmars independence from Britain in 1945 before being assassinated by his rivals.

In 1988, a month after up to 3,000 democracy activists were massacred by the government, Suu Kyi established the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1990 the regime called a general election. Suu Kyis party won convincingly, securing 392 of 485 seats, but the authorities ignored the result and refused to hand over power. That year she was awarded the Sakharov Prize, and in 1991, the Nobel Peace Prize, the award being collected by her two sons, Alexander and Kim, in her absence. Her husband, Michael Aris, an Oxford professor, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and was refused a visa for Myanmar.

Suu Kyi was faced with an agonising decision: leave Myanmar, knowing that she would never be allowed back in; or not leave Myanmar and leave her sick husband without her. She chose to stay in Myanmar, and Michael died in March 1999. Their two sons live in the UK. Last month, the Myanmarese regime – the State Peace and Development Council – led by General Than Shwe announced that Suu Kyis period of detention, due to expire at the end of May, had been extended. At that time, the UN Working Group said it believed her detention was in breach of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. What can be done to influence the regime? Campaigners say the key to changing Myanmar lies with India, China and Russia – all of which have considerable financial and trade links with the regime, offer political support, and supply it with weapons.

In January, China and Russia were condemned for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Myanmar. India has been widely condemned for supporting the regime, in particular for its involvement in the massive Shwe gas project, which includes a pipeline to India. Indias Myanmar policy, say campaigners, does not help: it is dictated not by human rights but by Indias economic interests. India hopes to counter the increasing Chinese influence in Myanmar, and wants cooperation from the regime to tackle insurgents in the North-east. The worlds largest democracy has abandoned Burmas democrats, said Zoya Phan, campaign coordinator at the Burma Campaign UK. India should be ashamed of what it has done, supplying money and weapons to one of the worlds most brutal regimes. The secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) said that sanctions against Myanmar would have little impact because China and India would continue to support it.