Thousands of police stood guard in the streets around Bangkok’s Supreme Court Friday ahead of a long-awaited verdict in the trial of former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Yingluck was ousted in 2014 by a coup following accusations of mismanagement of a billion-dollar rice subsidy program and of constitutional violations.
She faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of criminal negligence in mismanaging the rice subsidy program.
More than 3,000 officers were deployed to the streets outside the court, as around 1,000 protesters gathered to show their support, Metropolitan Police Bureau chief General Sanit Mahathavorn said.
Reporters outside the government complex which houses the Supreme Court said her supporters were ignoring police requests to stay in predetermined protest areas.
The crowds came despite a plea from Yingluck on Facebook to stay away from court due to security concerns. Many were dressed in black to mourn the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last October. Lines of police stood ready to repel any demonstrations.
Fall from power
When she was inaugurated in 2011, Yingluck became Thailand’s first female prime minister and its youngest in over 60 years.
The sister of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck was ousted by a coup in 2014 and was later impeached by Thailand’s military-appointed National Legislative Assembly. The ruling barred her from political office for five years.
At the time of her ouster, Yingluck said she had behaved with integrity and honesty during her time as prime minister.
“I pledge that I have followed correct proceedings of the constitution, laws of the country in every way,” she said on social media.
The rice subsidy program, introduced in 2011, pledged to pay farmers well above the market rate for their crop, and ended up costing the country billions.
But critics said it wasted large amounts of public funds trying to please rural voters, hurting exports and leaving the government with huge stockpiles of rice it couldn’t sell without losing money.
Yingluck said the rice subsidy scheme was “beneficial for the farmers and the country” and that claims it lost money were wrong and motivated by political bias against her.
Amid the outcry, Yingluck was investigated by Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for the rice subsidy issue and put on trial. Proceedings have lasted more than two years.
Shortly before the military coup in 2014, a Thai court ordered Yingluck’s removal from office, finding her guilty of violating the country’s constitution in her reassignment of a senior security official in 2011. That official was replaced by the then-national police chief, whose role in turn was given to Priewpan Damapong.
Damapong is the brother of the ex-wife of Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck’s brother, who was overthrown as Prime Minister in a military coup in 2006. Thaksin is living in self-imposed exile to avoid corruption charges.