Yangon  - Myanmar police on Thursday denied claims that the American national who swam to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside house-cum-prison last month, setting her up for a possible five-year jail sentence, was suffering from diabetes.

Myanmar Police Major General Khin Yi told a press conference that although US national John William Yettaw, 53, had claimed to be suffering from diabetes, medical examinations had proven otherwise, and he was in good health.

"Now, Yettaw is in good health of mind and body," Khin Yi told a rare press conference to which foreign diplomats were invited.

Yettaw is currently on trial for deliberately visiting opposition leader Suu Kyi while she was under detention at her lakeside family compound. He also faces minor charges for violating the terms of his visa and swimming in Inya Lake without authorization.

According to police reports, Yettaw swam to Suu Kyi's residence on May 3, was offered food and shelter by her two household assistants, and swam away on May 5 before being arrested in Inya Lake the next day.

Because of Yettaw's uninvited visit, Myanmar's junta has accused Suu Kyi of breaking the terms of her detention which officially ended on May 27. If found guilty, she could face up to five years in jail.

Khin Yi confirmed that Yettaw had previously visited Suu Kyi's residence on November 30, 2008, and that the authorities had been informed of the uninvited visit by Suu Kyi's doctor Tin Myo Win.

But Khin Yi claimed that Tin Myo Win had not told the authorities that Yettaw had left behind a copy of the Book of Mormon for Suu Kyi's reading pleasure, an oversight that meant the police had no evidence of the visit and so had not pursued the case.

It has perplexed observers that Yettaw faced no obstacles in swimming to Suu Kyi's heavily-guarded house on May 3, especially as he had a history of trying to see the imprisoned Nobel peace prize laureate.

According to Myanmar police, prior to his arrival in Yangon in May, Yettaw contacted several "illegal groups" in Bangkok, including Myanmar pro-democracy activists.

Yettaw is being kept in "a special room of Insein Prison Hospital." He has refused solid food but takes liquids with protein solutions and Astymin, the police chief said.

When asked by diplomats about how long Yettaw's trial, and that of Suu Kyi, would take, Khin Yi replied that that was up to the courts.

The trial of Suu Kyi, her two household aides and Yettaw began on May 11 in a special court set up in Insein Prison.

Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 19 years in detention, stands accused of breaking the terms of her latest house detention by permitting Yettaw to swim to her home-cum-prison.

Critics accused the junta of using the case as a pretext to keep Suu Kyi in jail during a politically sensitive period leading up to a general election planned for next year.

Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy, which 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 its regional allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations. (dpa)