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Two Decades On, Suu Kyi Collects Rome Citizenship


Nobel Peace laureate and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (C) poses with the Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino (R) and former minister and mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli at the award ceremony at the Campidoglio in Rome October 27, 2013.
Nobel Peace laureate and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (C) poses with the Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino (R) and former minister and mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli at the award ceremony at the Campidoglio in Rome October 27, 2013.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally collected her honorary citizenship of Rome on Sunday, 19 years after being offered the honor.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 68, spent most of two decades under house arrest after a military government ignored the results of a 1990 election won by her party.

”Nineteen years have passed since the giving of Roman citizenship to Aung San Suu Kyi. Today, finally we award it to a free woman,” Mayor Ignazio Marino wrote on Twitter.

The citizenship recognizes “her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights,” Marino's office said.

Aung San, Suu Kyi was elected to parliament last year as Burma opened up after years of authoritarian rule and international isolation.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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