Thailand’s junta has come under fire from conservative allies following ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s escape overseas, with many questioning how the military could have let her flee given she was heavily monitored.
Yingluck, whose Government was toppled by the military in 2014, pulled a dramatic disappearing act before a scheduled court judgment on Friday in a criminal negligence trial.
She faced up to ten years in prison and a lifetime political ban if convicted. But instead she was a no show, with junta and party sources saying she had fled abroad.
Analysts say Yingluck most likely cut a secret deal with the junta to exit the country — a charge the military has denied.
The leadership is desperate to avoid instability as it digs in for a long stay.
The junta says it does not yet know how the country’s first female prime minister managed to slip the net.
But key conservative figures, some of whom agitated for the coup that toppled Yingluck and are seen as political allies of the junta, rounded on the military in a series of statements over the weekend.
“It was clear that security officials followed her closely and took photographs of her everywhere she went, all the time. But she still was able to escape,” Panthep Puapongpan, one of the leaders of 2014 protests against Yingluck’s Government, told reporters.