After a dramatic pause, the interior minister entered the courtroom and read out a special order from Than Shwe, the senior general in Burma's military junta, commuting the sentence to 18 months of house arrest in the interests of "maintaining community peace and stability".
Ms Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, but retains a wide and passionate following, and is still the most potent threat to Burma's hated generals. The maximum sentence she could have received was five years' hard labour, but observers say it had been carefully reduced in order to keep her out of the way until after elections scheduled for next year, which are unlikely to do more than put a civilian façade on five decades of military rule.
"Eighteen months is perfectly designed if the motivation is, as we think, to keep her away from the elections and the aftermath when they will be trying to embed a new government," said Sean Turnell, a Burma expert at Australia's Macquarie University.
The trial stemmed from a bizarre incident in May when an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home to warn her of a dream he had had that she would be assassinated. Ms Suu Kyi initially urged him to leave, but allowed him to stay for two nights when he complained of cramps and exhaustion.
Mr Yettaw, a 54-year-old Vietnam veteranr, was hauled from the lake by police as he swam away from the house. Ms Suu Kyi and her two housekeepers were arrested and charged with violating the conditions of her arrest by providing him with food and shelter.
Looking bewildered, Mr Yettaw was convicted of immigration violations and "swimming in a non-swimming area", and sentenced to seven years, with four years' hard labour. Ms Suu Kyi's housekeepers, a mother and daughter, were given 18 months of house arrest.
Diplomats speculated that Mr Yettaw, a diabetic and epileptic who has been in poor health throughout the trial, would be quickly pardoned and deported.
