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Thailand's Prime Minister Defends Herself Against Charges

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is pictured on March 31, 2014. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images)
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is pictured on March 31, 2014. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images)

A Thai court will issue a ruling tomorrow that could remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office, raising the possibility that the legal system could accomplish what protesters have been trying to do for six months through street demonstrations.

Yingluck defended herself today against abuse of power allegations in a key case that is one of several legal challenges that could force her from her job.

She is accused of abusing her authority by transferring her National Security Council chief in 2011 to another position. A group of anti-government senators, who lodged the case, say the transfer was to benefit Yingluck’s ruling party and violated the constitution.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head is in Bangkok and tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that “most people think the verdict will go against her,” but “there’s no question that if she goes, the crisis will get worse.”

Guest

  • Jonathan Head, Southeast Asia correspondent for BBC News. He tweets @pakhead.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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