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Reuter: Funeral of Mr. Leo Nichols



 Funeral of Mr. Leo Nichols

   BANGKOK, June 24 (Reuter) - The funeral of a Burmese businessman, who
represented several European nations and died in a Rangoon jail, was held
on Sunday, diplomats said on Monday.
     James Leander (Leo) Nichols, 65, died in jail on Saturday of a heart
attack, they said.
     There was no official confirmation of his death by the ruling Burmese
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
     Nichols, a friend of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was
arrested by Burmese military authorities in April and sentenced to three
years in prison for operating telephones and fax machines at his house
without permission.
     He served as honorary consul for Norway and represented Denmark,
Finland and Switzerland.
     Diplomats and opposition sources believe Nichols was arrested because
of his close friendship with Suu Kyi and his financial assistance to her
National League for Democracy (NLD), which is at odds with the SLORC.
     "Leo Nichols died on Saturday. We were told that the funeral took
place on Sunday in Rangoon," a Norwegian Embassy official in Singapore told
Reuters.
     He and Bangkok-based diplomats said their governments had not been
formally notified of Nichols' death.
     At the time of Nichols' arrest, diplomats from the Scandinavian
countries and Switzerland said they were worried about his health and
questioned whether he could endure harsh prison life because he had
diabetes and high blood pressure.
     "We don't doubt that he did die from a heart attack," a Bangkok-based
diplomat said. "He was in poor health when he was arrested, and we were
worried about that."
     He and other diplomats who worked with Nichols went to Burma several
times since April but the government refused to meet them or hear their
pleas to release Nichols.
     The Norwegian diplomat said he heard the news of Nichols from an
embassy official who was sent to Rangoon late last week to check rumours
that Suu Kyi might be re-arrested by the SLORC.
     Over the weekend Suu Kyi made her regular speeches to supporters
outside the front gates of her Rangoon home, without any interruption from
officials.
     The government has cracked down on the democracy movement over the
past few months.
  REUTER
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