Fugitive former Thai leader Yingluck Shinawatra sentenced in her absence
Bangkok — Thailand’s Supreme Court sentenced former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison on Wednesday for mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions of dollars. Yingluck fled abroad last month fearing that the military government, set up after a coup in 2014, would seek a harsh sentence. For more than a decade Thai politics have been dominated by a power struggle between Thailand’s traditional elite, including the army and affluent Bangkok-based upper classes, and the Shinawatra family, which includes Yingluck’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was also ousted by a coup. Yingluck had faced up to 10 years in prison for negligence over the costly scheme that had helped get her elected in 2011. Yingluck pleaded innocent and accused the military government of political persecution. Nine judges voted unanimously to find her guilty in a verdict reading that took four hours, and a warrant was issued for her arres...
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