🇹🇭Thai Ex-PM Yingluck Sentenced to 5⃣ Years in Absentia

Thailand's Supreme Court found former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of negligence in a rice subsidy case, sentencing her in absentia to five years jail.

Nine judges took three hours to deliver the sentence on Wednesday, a month after Yingluck dramatically fled the country.

The court ruled Yingluck was guilty of mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme, that caused the country $US8 billion in financial losses. The ruling was due last month but was postponed after Yingluck failed to show for her court date.

Her whereabouts are unknown although Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters before Wednesday's verdict that he knew where Yingluck was but would not give more details.

The sentence will anger millions of supporters in Yingluck's "Red-Shirt" movement ahead of elections promised next year by the military that staged a coup to topple her democratically elected government after months of political unrest in 2014.

UCJ, UNILORIN.