Ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra has had crowds of sympathisers at every hearing of her two-year trial at the Supreme Court, but the regime predicts there will be more than usual on Friday. Ms Yingluck has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to stop corruption and irregularities stemming from her government's rice-pledging scheme, which resulted in more than 500 billion baht in damages. Ms Yingluck's legal team has insisted that her petition seeking the Constitutional Court's intervention was not an attempt to stall legal proceedings in the rice case. Norawich Lalaeng, Ms Yingluck's lawyer, said the last eight defence witnesses who are scheduled to testify Friday are former civil servants and academics. "I believe in the maturity of those who show up to give moral support [to Ms Yingluck]", he said, adding that police have in place measures to ensure security and deal with the traffic.

Source: Bangkok Post July 20, 2017 21:45 UTC