YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand for the first time Tuesday and told a Myanmar court that she did not violate her house arrest when she offered temporary shelter to an American man who swam to her lakeside home.



People of Myanmar living in Japan protest for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi on May 24, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.



"She was very confident, very firm, very clear," said Mark Canning, the British ambassador to Myanmar, who was among diplomats and journalists allowed to watch the proceedings.



"In a strange way, she commanded the courtroom," he said.



Suu Kyi, who is being tried on subversion charges, said she did not learn immediately that John William Yettaw swam nearly two miles and snuck into her crumbling, colonial-era bungalow on May 3.



She was told about the visitor the next day by one of two housekeepers who are her sole companions in the heavily guarded residence, where she was under house arrest.



Suu Kyi's two helpers are also on trial, as is Yettaw.



"I didn't know," she said. "I was upstairs."



Under questioning by a judge for half an hour, Suu Kyi said she provided Yettaw food but allowed him only to "stay temporarily."



Yettaw left late May 5, she said.



"He walked to the lakeside. But I don't know which way he went, because it was very dark," Suu Kyi said.



The Nobel Peace Prize laureate also acknowledged that Yettaw, a 53-year-old former military serviceman from Falcon, Missouri, had visited her once before last November.



"Did you report to the authority about his arrival?" the judge asked.



"No," she replied.



Suu Kyi had earlier told supporters that she did not tell authorities about the latest intrusion because she didn't want Yettaw or anyone else to get in trouble.



But it is this silence that the Myanmar's military junta is trying her for.



The government said Yettaw's presence violated the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest.



The country's regime rarely allows Suu Kyi any visitors, and foreigners are not allowed overnight stays in local households without government permission.



Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years -- a confinement the military junta has regularly extended.  Watch the U.N. secretary general explain what he is doing for Suu Kyi »



Her latest round of home detention -- after five years of confinement -- expires Wednesday, according to her supporters at home and abroad.



Last week, the military began prosecuting Suu Kyi on allegations of subversion at a prison compound near Yangon.



Her supporters say the move is meant to keep her confined even longer -- beyond the general elections that the junta has scheduled for next year.



If convicted, Suu Kyi, 63, could be sentenced to three to five years in prison.



Before the proceedings got under way at the Insean Prison compound Tuesday, the junta said Suu Kyi's house arrest did not expire for six more months.



And though the government said it considered releasing her at the end of the term, it said it had no choice but to try her after she met with Yettaw.



"As Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Gen. Aung San, the leader of our country, we were deeply thinking whether to extend her detention or not," Police Brigadier General Myint Thein told reporters Tuesday. "Unfortunately, a U.S. citizen entered her house for two days. She allowed and made conversation with him, gave him food.



"These kind of actions broke the law," he added. "This is why we have no way but to open a case. And we are very sad about this case."



Gen. Aung San played an instrumental role in bringing about the country's independence from British colonial rule. He was assassinated in 1947 and is still revered in Myanmar.



Suu Kyi's lawyers rejected the junta's explanation, saying the United Nations had already
Who's house arrest does not expire for six more months? What is she charged with? Who is on trial? Who is she on trial with? What is the name of the American that Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial with? Who is under house arrest? Who was charged with violating the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest?
Aung San Suu Kyi subversion charges, Aung San Suu Kyi Suu Kyi's two helpers John William Yettaw Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San
question: Who's house arrest does not expire for six more months?, answer: Aung San Suu Kyi | question: What is she charged with?, answer: subversion charges, | question: Who is on trial?, answer: Aung San Suu Kyi | question: Who is she on trial with?, answer: Suu Kyi's two helpers | question: What is the name of the American that Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial with?, answer: John William Yettaw | question: Who is under house arrest?, answer: Aung San Suu Kyi | question: Who was charged with violating the conditions of Suu Kyi's house arrest?, answer: Aung San