The Argus: Brighton Festival Thumb Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has thanked people in Brighton for their support and said one day she hopes to visit the city again.

In a message which will be played at today’s (Wednesday) Brighton Festival launch the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Burma, who is this year’s guest director, urged residents to use their freedom to raise awareness of her country.

Ms Suu Kyi, who has fought for more than two decades for democracy in her home country, said: “This is one of the most joyous occasions I have had the good fortune to address.

“We all think of the Brighton Festival as a time for festivity, for diversity, for creativity, for expression, for freedom of expression.

“This is especially important to us in Burma, who have been deprived of this right of freedom for very many years.

“We look to you to use your freedom of expression to let the world know what it is like in our country, what it is like not to be able to say what you want to say.”

Ms Suu Kyi, who was only released from house arrest in November and is currently unable to leave Burma because of the political situation, added that she hopes to be able to visit Brighton in the future.

She said: “I hope one day that I shall be able to come to Brighton.

“I have been to Brighton long, long, ago, and I am not quite sure I remember what it is like, but I would like to come there again to take part in the Brighton Festival and to thank all of you personally for what you have done for us and what I think you are still trying to do for us.”

This year’s programme will cross all genres as a collection of artists respond to Ms Suu Kyi, who has been detained in Burma for 15 of the past 21 years.

It will include events ranging from a new co-commissioned work by Alain Platel and les ballets C de la B to a revival of the site-specific theatre commission The New World Order by theatre company Hydrocracker based on Pinter’s political plays.

Ms Suu Kyi’s passion for Western classical music has also been reflected across the programme, including Beethoven’s powerful hymn to freedom Fidelio in a concert performance with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Adam Fischer.