Thailand has asked the United Kingdom to extradite former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, overthrown in a coup in 2014 and sentenced in absentia to five years’ jail for negligence, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on 31 July.

Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (Photo: nu.nl)

Prayuth said the request was a necessary procedure between the two countries which share an extradition treaty.

Yingluck fled the country last August to avoid being jailed over a rice subsidy scheme that ran up losses in billions of dollars. She denied wrongdoings and said the trial was politically motivated.

The Supreme Court sentenced her in absentia to five years’ jail last September.

Thai authorities have issued an arrest order for the former Prime Minister.

In January 2018, the Thai Foreign Ministry confirmed that Yingluck has been in the UK after photos said to be of Yingluck and taken in London were spread online.

(Source: VNA)