Former leader to attend brother Thaksin's 65th birthday party

Thailand's military governors have given permission to former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to travel to Europe, where she is expected to attend the birthday party of her brother Thaksin, also a deposed former premier, officials said on Thursday.

A military spokesman said Yingluck, who was forced from office by a court ruling days before the military took power in May, was permitted to leave, provided she stays out of politics. She will be allowed back into Thailand at the end of her trip, the spokesman said.

The military briefly detained Yingluck and hundreds of other politicians, activists, academics and journalists after the May 22 takeover, which it says it staged to restore order after months of sometimes violent protests against her government.

Some of those detained remain in custody under martial law.

Since taking power, the military's National Council for Peace and Order has banned hundreds of activists and politicians from leaving the country. It has also stifled dissent and dispersed anti-coup protests.

"Yingluck has not done anything that violates our orders, so her personal trip to Europe has been approved," army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said.

"Yingluck is not a wanted person. Of course we will allow her back into the country. Why would we not?"

"Since the coup, she has never shown that she was against the NCPO's work and has kept a low profile ever since," he said.

General Teerachai Nakwanit, the army commander for the region that includes Bangkok, said Yingluck was expected to attend the 65th birthday party in France this month of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed by a 2006 military coup.

Thaksin has lived in self-exile since 2008 to avoid serving a prison sentence for corruption.

The ouster of Yingluck's government was the latest twist in a decadelong power struggle pitting Thaksin, who gained widespread popularity for providing social benefits in impoverished northern regions, against the royalist military establishment.

Power struggle

For six months before the coup, Thailand was convulsed by establishment-backed protests aimed at ousting Yingluck, who became Thailand's first female prime minister when she swept to power in a 2011 election.

Protesters wanted to eradicate the influence of her family, including Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire. He is free to return to Thailand, but faces the prospect of prison time if he does.

At least 30 people were killed in sporadic violence over the months of unrest, and the economy was badly bruised.

The United States and the European Union have led international condemnation of the army's seizure of power and downgraded diplomatic ties.

At the Thai military's request, the foreign ministry has revoked the passports of at least six people, including two anti-coup movement founders who fled the country.

Yingluck, 47, remains under investigation by Thailand's anti-corruption agency over a rice-buying program that offered farmers a price for their rice that was well above market level.

Reuters - AFP

(China Daily 07/18/2014 page11)