The Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces as long as five years in the country’s most notorious jail after new charges were brought against her over a bizarre intrusion this month at the lakeside home where she lives under house arrest.

Ms Suu Kyi, whose detention without charge was due to expire in a fortnight, now faces a criminal trial after an American man dodged the security cordon surrounding the house by swimming across the Inya Lake in central Rangoon.

Despite pleas for him to leave he stayed for two nights, according to her lawyers, and was arrested by the Burmese authorities as he swam back the following morning.

The man, named as John Yettaw, has also been charged with entering a restricted area and with violating immigration laws.

The incident has far more serious consequences for Ms Suu Kyi, as well as her two female companions and her personal doctor, the only people with whom she has any regular contact – all of whom have been charged.

It also undermines the long-running legal challenge to her detention, which was due to be renewed this month as her current term of house arrest approaches the six-year mark.

"Everyone is very angry with this wretched American,” Ms Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, said today. “He is the cause of all these problems. He’s a fool.”

Today Ms Suu Kyi, 63, was driven by police from her home on University Avenue to the city’s Insein Prison, where many of Burma’s 2000 political prisoners are held.

Mr Kyi Win said that she was to be held in a house within the Insein compound pending her trial on Monday, which will also be held within the prison.

Along with her doctor and two friends, a mother and daughter who serve as her housekeepers, she has been charged under section 22 of Burma’s Law Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements.

Last week, she was put on an intravenous drip after reportedly suffering from dehydration and difficulty in swallowing food. After visiting her, Mr Kyi Win said: “I am very concerned about Suu Kyi’s health, even though she said she is well.”

Mr Yettaw's motives are unclear, but recent reports suggest that he is an uninvited lone eccentric, rather than a committed activist or an acquaintance to Ms Suu Kyi.

The Burmese state media reported last week that he is 53 years old, and that he made his lake crossing on May 3, using a large empty water bottle as a flotation aid. He was carrying a passport and a black rucksack containing pliers, a camera, and about $280 in American and Burmese currency.

Since then, Burmese blogs have reported that he had paid an earlier visit to Ms Suu Kyi in late November last year. Her lawyers will argue that, because Mr Yettaw was uninvited, Ms Suu Kyi did not violate the military dictatorship’s strict laws banning foreigners from private homes and requiring even Burmese guests other than family members to be reported to the police.

“Madam Suu told him to go back, but he didn’t,” Mr Kyi Win said. “He said he was so tired and wanted to rest, but she pleaded with him. Then he slept overnight on the ground floor.”

A US consular official has met Mr Yettaw, a native of the state of Missouri, and reported that he appeared to be in good spirits and good health despite his detention.

In the United States, his stepson, Paul Nedrow, suggested that diabetes could have caused Mr Yettaw “to become disoriented and confused and be unable to make wise choices for himself”.

In an e-mail to the Associated Press news agency, he said: “I know that John is harmless and not politically motivated in any way. He did not want to cause Suu Kyi any trouble.”

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