Ex-PM Yingluck could avoid prison if 5-year sentence shortened
text size

Ex-PM Yingluck could avoid prison if 5-year sentence shortened

Listen to this article
Play
Pause
Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions in Bangkok on Aug 1, 2017 to give her closing statement on a rice-pledging case. (File photo)
Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions in Bangkok on Aug 1, 2017 to give her closing statement on a rice-pledging case. (File photo)

Fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra could be eligible to out-of-prison detention if her jail sentence is shortened by one year, according to Thailand's Department of Corrections chief.

Sahakarn Phetnarin, director-general of the department, said on Sunday that the new regulation on out-of-prison detention that might take effect next month could be applied to convicts whose jail terms did not exceed four years.

As Yingluck had been sentenced to five years in jail, she could be eligible to out-of-prison detention if her term was commuted by one year, he said.

As soon as Yingluck entered prison, she could seek a royal pardon to have her term shortened, Mr Sahakarn said.

If a convict is to be detained at home, the place must be equipped with CCTV and the Department of Corrections has authority to decide whether individual detainees should wear electronic monitoring devices or not, he said.

The new regulation would not be applied to those convicted for sexual offences, violence and serious narcotics crimes, he said.

Yingluck, 57, has been a fugitive since August 2017, when she failed to appear before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions for the reading of its ruling on a charge of dereliction of duty in a rice-pledging programme that ran up at least 500 billion baht in losses.

She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison, and a warrant for her arrest in the rice-pledging case remains active.

Her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra recently said he expected Yingluck to return to Thailand in April next year.

Thaksin returned to Thailand last year to serve his jail term. He was moved to hospital on the first night until he was paroled.

Do you like the content of this article?
65 640
COMMENT (53)

By continuing to use our site you consent to the use of cookies as described in our privacy policy and terms

Accept and close