Black day in Thailand

Fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been sentenced to a five-year jail term. 

The Supreme Court took almost four hours on Wednesday to read the verdict on Yingluck’s alleged negligence in her government’s rice-pledging scheme.

#Thailand - Yingluck’s location ‘known’

Prayut promises details revealed after verdict reading, but doubts extradition

PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said he knew the whereabouts of fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra although there was a slim chance she could be extradited.

It was the first admission from the military regime that it had located the runaway ex-premier.

While Thailand holds extradition agreements with several countries, Prayut said Thailand “cannot even bring a certain someone overseas back here”. 

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He refused to reveal where Yingluck was, saying that more details would be revealed after her verdict is read today, including whether her Thai passport would be revoked as a result of the ruling.

“I have my own spies. I have information but I can’t say it out loud,” Prayut said. 

“Still, I need it to be verified.”

A few days after Yingluck disappeared, Prayut said Thailand had directly contacted Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates to find Yingluck. 

 

Thai police also asked Interpol to cooperate with 129 countries in its network.

Prayut said there was still no update from countries contacted through Interpol.

He said that Yingluck had not, and was unlikely to, obtain political asylum status in any country.

Yingluck was accused of dereliction in preventing corruption and irregularities in her government’s controversial rice-pledging scheme, which was blamed for causing massive losses to the state worth Bt500 billion. 

She apparently pulled off a dramatic escape a day or two before the Supreme Court was to deliver its verdict in the case on August 25. 

The reading of the verdict at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders was subsequently rescheduled for today. If found guilty, Yingluck could face up to 10 years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics.

However, questions have been raised about whether the court will actually read the verdict and what other consequences there could be. 

Three scenarios

If the court issues a ruling there are three possible scenarios. First, she could be found guilty with a sentence of one to 10 years in jail, a Bt2,000 to Bt20,000 fine, or both. Second, a guilty verdict could be rendered with a suspended jail term. Third, she could be found not guilty.

There had been debate whether Yingluck would be allowed to appeal a negative ruling. 

While the new 2017 Constitution allows the appeal, the new law on criminal procedures against political office holders, which would lay out conditions for an appeal, has not been promulgated. 

Yingluck is not expected to show up at court today. If she is sentenced to a jail term, another arrest warrant will be issued for her. 

Prayut called for the public to remain calm after today’s ruling at the court. “It should proceed like every other case. No one should be alarmed,” he said. 

He also asked the public not to judge quickly the three police officers who were suspected for facilitating her escape. 

The officers might be found guilty of merely faking car licence plates, as Yingluck’s arrest warrant was not issued at the time of her apparent escape.

The National Security Council, meanwhile, said that fewer supporters of the former prime minister were expected at the court today, because they had been disappointed at Yingluck’s failure to appear at the court on August 25.

Council secretary-general General Thawip Netniyom said security forces should remain vigilant and were assessing how the court’s verdict would affect the country.

“[We] have to think of all the aspects of the verdict and try to come up with scenarios of what would happen consequently,” he said. 

“However, we believe it will not spill over into violence as everyone will respect the court’s ruling.”

In a related development, Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Pol Maj-General Panurat Lakboon said yesterday the deputy commander of Metropolitan Police Bureau 5, Pol Colonel Chairit Anusit, could be summoned for interrogation over his alleged involvement in Yingluck’s flight.

However, the fact-finding committee must first consider the evidence, he said.

Panurat also said that he was now heading the committee.

The two other police officers suspected of involvement in the former premier’s flight would be interrogated further as witnesses in the case, Panurat said. 

Source - TheNation

 

#Thailand - Military branches clueless over Yingluck exit.

None of the three branches of the military – the Army, Air Force or Navy – has yet been able to establish which channel fugitive ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra used to escape from Thailand, military chief General Surapong Suwanna-art said on Wednesday. 

An arrest warrant was issued for Yingluck on Friday after she failed to show up at the Supreme Court to hear the final verdict in a case stemming from her government’s rice-pledging scheme.

There has been speculation that members of the armed forces gave Yingluck help to flee given that the former PM had always been followed and observed by military officers.

Some people have said that it seems unlikely that the military would have let their guard down so near to her verdict day.

Surapong said that if any officers had been found to be involved in such a scheme, they would be prosecuted.

 

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Foreign media probe Tanasak about Yingluck’s passport

Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn on Tuesday declined to say whether the government will revoke the passport of fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra after she fled the country days before hearing the court verdict in her negligence case.

Tanasak, in Sydney after overseeing a troupe of 56 Khon mask dancers who performed at the Sydney Opera House, was asked by foreign journalists if the government plans to revoke Yingluck's passport.

Tanasak, who oversees the Foreign Ministry, said: “The Thai government practices the rule of law. As an administration, we can not intervene in the judgment of the court.

"In your country, can you intervene in the court?

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"Thailand is the big country and the government gives freedom to citizens. We don’t follow individuals in terms of where they are going or when they leave the country. So we're following the rule of law. Just as another country."

An arrest warrant was issued for Yingluck by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions last Friday after she failed to turn up for the reading of the verdict.

Her negligence case is linked to her then government’s controversial rice-pledging scheme.

The court postponed the reading of the verdict until September 27 and ordered the seizure of Yingluck’s Bt30-million bail.

Source - TheNation

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Fugitive Thai ex-PM Yingluck in Dubai, aiming for UK

Fugitive former Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra fled to Dubai and may try to seek asylum in the UK, a junta source told AFP Saturday, after she ducked a legal ruling, wrong-footing the court and her supporters alike.

Yingluck, 50, was due on Friday morning to arrive at the Supreme Court for the ruling in her trial for criminal negligence that could have seen her jailed for 10 years.

But she did not show up, staging a vanishing act that wrote a dramatic closing chapter to the 16-year political saga of her mega-rich Shinawatra family.

Speculation swirled on Saturday on the whereabouts of Thailand's first female prime minister -- and her possible escape route.

The junta source, who is well-placed in the security hierarchy, gave a detailed description of her escape, saying she took a private jet from Thailand to Singapore and onto Dubai, the base of Shinawatra family patriarch Thaksin, who is Yingluck's older brother.

"Thaksin has long prepared escape plan for his sister... he would not allow his sister to spend even a single day in prison," the source added, requesting anonymity.

"But Dubai is not Yingluck's final destination," the source said, adding she may be aiming "to claim asylum in Britain".

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Thaksin, who once owned Manchester City football club, owns property in London and spends significant amounts of time in the city.

The Shinawatra's political network remained tight-lipped on Saturday in a media blackout that only served to heighten speculation over her dash from Thailand and the likelihood of a possible deal with the junta to allow her to leave.

A senior source inside the family's Pheu Thai party, also requesting anonymity, on Saturday told AFP Yingluck had fled the country for Dubai a few days before the ruling.

The Shinawatra political dynasty emerged in 2001 with a series of groundbreaking welfare schemes that won them votes and the loyalty of the rural poor.

But their popularity rattled Thailand's royalist, army-aligned elite, who battered successive governments linked to the clan with coups, court cases and protests.

Yingluck's government was toppled by a coup in 2014 and she was put on trial over negligence linked to a costly rice subsidy that propped up her rural political base. 

Source - The Jakarta Post

#Thailand - Sa Kaeo immigration officers step up vehicle checks in search for Yingluck

Immigration police and troops at the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province on Friday stepped up their checks of vehicles leaving the country as part of the search for former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The ex-PM had failed earlier in the day to attend the Supreme Court to hear the judgement in the rice-pledging case against her.

At 10am, Sa Kaeo immigration police chief Pol Colonel Benjapol Rodsawat issued an urgent order for officials manning the checkpoint to strictly check all vehicles leaving the Kingdom.

Following the order, the immigration police and troops opened all vehicles to check the passengers. They especially examined vehicles with Cambodian licence plates.

Benjapol also sought help from Colonel Nirot Thongmuan, commander of the 12th Ranger Taskforce, Maj-General Hathaitep Kirati-angkul, commander of the 19th Army Circle, and Aranyaprathet district chief Soawanit Suriyakul to intensively check vehicles travelling on border roads in the district.

Source - TheNation
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#Thailand - Myanmar suspects submit their final appeal in Koh Tao tourist murder case.

TWO MYANMAR nationals convicted of killing two British tourists in Koh Tao in 2014 have submitted their final appeal to the Supreme Court asking for a review of the judicial process and the evidence against them, according to their lawyers.

The two men, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, are seeking to overturn death sentences handed down to them by the lower court in December 2015 for the murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, in Surat Thani’s Koh Tao. The sentence was upheld by the Appeal Court in March this year. 

“The legal team asks the Supreme Court to re-examine the legal process and evidence, and whether the DNA samples collected from the crime scene really matched those of the defendants,” lawyer Nakhon Chomphuchat told The Nation.

The case has been closely watched internationally and domestically due to the brutal nature of the crime involving foreign tourists, particularly since tourism is a major source of income for the economy. 


Witheridge was raped and Miller beaten before both of them were killed. Their bodies were found on a beach on the island.

The death sentences have raised concerns among human right defenders amid claims that the evidence presented by prosecutors had failed to establish the pair’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Critics have also accused the police of failing to properly collect and test DNA samples from the scene. Myanmar authorities and civil society groups have also expressed their concerns over the conduct of Thai police and the way they handled the case. 

The two men were arrested weeks after the murder amid severe pressure on the police from the military government and media. Initially, police claimed the two men confessed but the men later retracted their statements, saying they were tortured. 

While public prosecutors said DNA evidence collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims linked Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun to the murders, their lawyers argued DNA from a garden hoe allegedly used as the murder weapon did not match samples taken from the men.

The defendants’ legal team has submitted a 319-page document to the Supreme Court for its consideration, a lawyer on the team said.

 After visiting the two men in Bang Kwang Central Prison last Thursday, Nakhon said the two defendants continued to maintain their innocence. 

The Supreme Court’s judgement will be final, although capital punishment sentences have not been carried out in the Kingdom for years.

Source - TheNation
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#Thailand - Massive security force to be fielded for Yingluck verdict.

4,000 officers to be stationed at court as 3,500 supporters of ex-pm expected.

ABOUT 4,000 security officers will be deployed to maintain order at the Supreme Court on Friday, when up to 3,500 people are expected to gather in a show of support for former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

On that day, the high court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders is scheduled to deliver its verdict in the case, in which Yingluck is accused of negligence in connection with her government’s corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme.

Security measures will also include 40 more surveillance cameras and three walk-through metal detectors installed in the area, in addition to three patrolling helicopters, 20 riot trucks and four ambulances, according to Metropolitan Police deputy chief Pol Maj-General Panurat Lakboon.

Of the nearly 16,000-square-metre court premises, 1,500 square metres would be allocated for Yingluck’s supporters, Panurat said yesterday. 

Barricades would also be erected and officers posted to prevent Yingluck’s supporters – or “third parties with bad intent” – from trespassing in restricted court areas, he said. 

Authorities have repeatedly warned of unidentified “third parties” that could try to create chaos during the event.

The crowd will be monitored using CCTV, the Bangkok deputy police chief said, adding that anyone who violated the law or provoked the crowd would be recorded by the cameras and could expect to face an arrest warrant. 

Supreme Court officials yesterday also told the media planning to cover the verdict that security measures had been laid out including a plan to set up checkpoints at every gate at the Chaeng Wattana government complex, with free access only at the main gate near the Administrative Court.

News reporters were advised to submit their car licence numbers in advance to avoid any difficulties.

A police source said security checkpoints would also be set up in various areas across the country starting from tomorrow ahead of “judgment day”. Any suspicious movements would be blocked and the people involved could be detained, he said.

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#Thailand - PM denies court interference.

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is surrounded by supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court yesterday to make her closing statement in the case linked to her government’s controversial rice-pledging scheme.

‘No concern’ about mobilization ahead of August 25 verdict.

PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday rejected allegations by former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, insisting that he had never interfered in the judicial process as she alleged during her closing remarks to the Supreme Court yesterday. 

Yingluck earlier said in court that junta chief Prayut, who staged a coup to topple her government three years ago, had implied in a recent statement that she was guilty in the case relating to her government’s rice-pledging scheme, otherwise she would never have been brought to court. 

Prayut said yesterday the junta government had only provided testimony as witnesses for the plaintiff, which is the government itself.

“I never led [the decision] of the court. I don’t have to order them,” the premier said. “The judicial system is always independent. They have inspected the issues based on facts and they’ve finished.”

Yingluck is accused of negligence and malfeasance for allegedly ignoring corruption related to the rice-pledging scheme conducted while she was in office, despite a warning from the Office of the Auditor-General. 

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