The ousted former prime minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison over a rice subsidy scheme that—although celebrated by farmers—caused billions of dollars in losses, according to the military government. Reuters reports that Yingluck fled the country in favor of her brother’s property in Dubai before hearing the verdict on Aug. 25, over concerns that she would face a harsh sentence. Yingluck took the prime minister post after a general election in 2011, but her government was ousted in 2014 following the rice subsidy scheme.
