Critics of the regime consider Yettaw's intrusions as a gift to the junta, giving it an excuse to detain Suu Kyi after her previous six-year detention expired May 27.

The ruling military government is believed to want her to remain confined until at least after elections planned for 2010.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar's junta for the past 19 years.

The new trial of Suu Kyi has sparked a chorus of protests from world leaders and even statements of concern from Myanmar's regional allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week offered Myanmar improved relations if it released Suu Kyi, but there was no indication its junta would accede.

The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper, said Friday in an editorial that 'demanding the release of Suu Kyi means showing reckless disregard for the law'.