On Saturday (July 28), Yingluck was seen in a video clip posted on Instagram in which she said that she is now living in Covent Garden in London’s West End.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai yesterday (July 31) confirmed the government has sought the extradition of Yingluck.
It was a normal procedure by the police, the attorney-general and the Foreign Ministry which were duty-bound to seek extradition, said Gen Prayut.
“The government has completed its legal steps. Whether the extradition will happen or not depends on the other country’s decision,” the prime minister said.
Mr Don said the request was a normal action by law and he did not know about its details because the procedural step did not need to reach the policymakers’ level.
The foreign minister also said that the movement had nothing to do with Gen Prayut’s recent visit to England.
“The Embassy, upon instruction of the Royal Thai Government and in accordance with the above mentioned Treaty, hereby requests the extradition of Miss Yingluck Shinawatra, a Thai citizen, believed to reside within the United Kingdom,” read a letter dated July 5 and submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, referring to a 1911 extradition treaty.
The BBC Thai website reported in May that Yingluck obtained a multiple-entry visa from Britain.
Yingluck, who was prime minister from 2011 until she was ousted by Thailand’s Constitutional Court shortly before a coup in 2014, fled abroad in August last year amid a criminal court case against her.
The following month she was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for mishandling a rice subsidy project that caused massive losses.
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