By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE PLANNED HOMECOMING of deposed prime minister-cum-convict at large Yingluck Shinawatra without imprisonment could possibly be “the last straw” for those who might no longer tolerate an evident undermining of the country’s rules of law and judicial process, said a prominent lawmaker today (Mar 6).
Former Democrat leader Jurin Laksanavisit said the people might no longer stand seeing the rules of law and judicial process being possibly undermined and flouted again by Yingluck, sister of de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole Thaksin Shinawatra.
Jurin called on the former woman prime minister who had been earlier convicted in absentia of perpetrating misconduct pertaining to a previous Pheu Thai government’s rice subsidy campaign, fled the country six years ago and remained in self-exile abroad since to observe the rules of law and judicial procedures to the extent that she return home and serve her five-year jail term.
The former Democrat leader, concurrently a Democrat MP, suggested Yingluck never follow in the footsteps of her “untouchable” brother who had allegedly manipulated to keep himself from being literally put behind bars for a single day since he returned from self-exile overseas last August.
Instead of being imprisoned for his convicted misconduct charges, the powerful de facto Pheu Thai boss had been provided the privileges of staying in a private ward at Police Hospital for a six-month period, equivalent to half of his curtailed, one-year jail sentence.
Jurin warned that massive street protests might possibly occur and refuel a political crisis if Yingluck’s five-year jail sentence was practically skipped as had been the case of her brother.
Given the unlikelihood of legal loopholes over the old-age and “critical illness” categories for the convict at large Yingluck being applied to otherwise keep her from jail as had been the case of her brother, it remains to be seen how the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole could possibly help bring her back home without being literally put behind bars for a single day.
Former Democrat MP Thepthai Senapong has recently forecast that Yingluck would probably return after the upcoming August 22 – the date on which Thaksin will have finished his one-year sentence without spending a single day in prison.
Meanwhile, Deputy Probation Department Director-General Montri Bunyayothin said today Thaksin who has been granted parole since last month may relocate himself from Chan Song Lah residence on the Thonburi side of the capital to his home province of Chiang Mai on a temporary basis.
Thaksin’s daughter/Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra has recently asked for permission from the Probation Department for her father to see his relatives in the northern province for an undisclosed period of time, according to the deputy chief of the agency.
Chiang Mai had been earlier viewed as a major stronghold of Thaksin’s party until last year’s election in which the Move Forward got seven out of a total 10 MPs for the northern province, compared to only two MPs for the Pheu Thai.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Former Democrat leader Jurin Laksanavisit and former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Photo: Thai Rath
Front Page: Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra with her brother de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Photo: Matichon
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