Thailand’s ex-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra missed a court appearance in a negligence trial on Friday that could have seen her jailed, prompting the Supreme Court to issue an arrest warrant and the kingdom’s junta to step up border controls.
Thousands of supporters — outnumbered by security forces — waited from dawn for a glimpse of Thailand’s first female Prime Minister, but she did not show, prompting fevered speculation that she may have joined her billionaire brother Thaksin in self-exile.
“Her lawyer said she is sick and asked to delay the ruling... The court does not believe she is sick... And has decided to issue an arrest warrant,” fearing she may flee the country, lead judge Cheep Chulamon told the court, rescheduling the verdict to September 27.
Thailand is deeply divided between the Shinawatras and their political base, which is mainly drawn from the rural poor, and a royalist army-aligned elite, who loathe the clan and refuse to cede power to democratic Governments.