TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thailand's junta has given permission to ousted former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to leave the country for the first time since the 22 May coup, a military spokesman said on Thursday, as reported by The Guardian.
Yingluck is expected to travel to Paris next week to attend the 65th birthday party of her elder brother, the fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Her request was approved because she had stayed out of politics since the military seized power, according to the junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
"The NCPO yesterday approved prime minister Yingluck's request to leave the country because since the coup she has never shown that she was against the NCPO's work," an army spokesman, Colonel Winthai Suvaree, said. "She has kept a low profile ever since," he added.
Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, was removed from office in a controversial court ruling shortly before the army toppled the remnants of her elected government.
She was among hundreds of people summoned and temporarily detained by the junta afterwards.
THE GUARDIAN | AFP
