A Khaosod English translation of the statement posted by former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on her official Facebook account this afternoon.

Statement from Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra
The 28th Prime Minister of Thailand
23 January 2015

To all the dear people,

As expected, the National Legislative Assembly has reached its decision to impeach me as a Prime Minister and ban me from politics for five years, while the Attorney-General has taken up a case against me in the Supreme Court's Division for Holders of Political Office. I have these statements to make:

I insist on and express confidence in my innocence, and I would like to thank the principled minority votes that upheld fairness. The procedures have violated and abridged my basic rights that I, as a Thai citizen, deserve to have.

Let me insist that the rice-mortage program is a good program. It did not cause damages. As for the number of damages that they have tried to press on me, it is prejudice against me, and an attempt to use farmers as instruments of political destruction.

As I said about Thailand's democracy on 29 April 2013 at Ulan Bator, Mongolia, "I would like to see reconciliation and democracy gain strength. This can only be achieved through strengthening of the rule of law and due process. Only then will every person from all walks of life feel confident that they will be treated fairly."

I still insist on those words I said, even though today Thai democracy is dead, along with the rule of law. There is still a movement constantly bent on destruction, as I am suffering right now. 

It is saddening and unbelievable that there are so many coincidences, as I said in my final hearing yesterday, and they are coincidences that are not coincidences. Just only one hour before the National Legislative Assembly began its impeachment vote, the Attorney-General announced that it would prosecute me on charges of dereliction of duty leading to corruption in the rice-mortage program, even though the head of the Office of Attorney-General stressed that there is still need to consider incomplete points in the case.

The attorney institution, which has long been a credible institution in the justice system, is now questioned because of this incident. 

My performance of duty as a Prime Minister throughout two years, nine months, and two days was dedicated to solving problems in every group of people without discrimination. I am proud that, once in my life, I helped farmers and poor people escape from the depth of their poverty, and improved their lives. 

Today, I have no [political] office left. The only thing left for me are charges that they have forcefully pressed against me, which I will fight in court. 

Reconciliation cannot take place by hunting down certain individuals. It has to come with impartiality that provides justice to all sides. When there is fairness, there will be justice. Acceptance, peace, and unity will then follow suit in Thai society.

We are all Thais. Instead of turning to each other and joining hands to strengthen our country, we create hatred against each other, hunting down [opponents] and not giving them quarters. In the end, the one who is damaged is our own country. 

I am saddened, not because I have been bullied and am suffering unfair fate, but because I feel sorry for farmers and all the Thai people who lost their opportunity and were forced back to live in the endless cycle of poverty, debt, and exploitation. They also lost the basic [rights] of democracy, and the laws are being distorted. 

Finally, I hope that the individuals who administer justice of the country will not allow any group who disrespects democratic rules and disregards rules of law to be influential ever again. As an academic has said: "if there is no Yingluck, Thai people can still live on. But, more importantly, if there is no justice left in the governance of Thailand, no one can live on."

BANGKOK — Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has insisted on her innocence following the junta-appointed parliament's decision to impeach her this morning, posting a statement on Facebook after the military forced her staff to cancel a formal press conference.

Yingluck was impeached in an overwhelming vote, 190 against 18, by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) today for her alleged failure to stop corruption in the rice-pledging scheme, a key policy in her administration that allegedly cost the state 500 billion baht in damages. 

As a result of her impeachment, Yingluck is banned from politics for five years, effectively barring her from the next national election that the junta says will be held in 2016 at the earliest. 

Yingluck was scheduled to give a press conference after the vote at the SC Park Hotel, which is owned by her family, but military officers arrived at the premises and "asked" her staff to cancel the event. 

Soldiers arrive at hotel in Bangkok where Yingluck was scheduled to hold a press conference after being impeached by NLA, 23 Jan 2015.

Yingluck's official Facebook account then posted a statement attributed to her, saying that the impeachment was "expected," but that she still insists on her innocence.

"The procedure has violated and abridged my basic rights that I, as a Thai citizen, deserve to have," the statement says. "Let me insist that the rice-mortage program is a good program. It did not cause any damage. As for the number of damages that they try to press on me, it is prejudice against me, and an attempt to use farmers as instruments of political destruction."

She also expressed her dismay at the "coincidence" that the Office of Attorney-General decided to press criminal charges against her in court only an hour before she was impeached by the NLA.

The former leader concluded her statement with a strongly-worded pledge to continue "fighting."

"However, I insist that I will fight to the end to prove my innocence, regardless of the outcome. What is also important is that I will stand by the people of Thailand. We have to bring progress to the country, restore democracy, and build fairness in society in a meaningful way."

The NLA voted to impeach Yingluck 190 to 18 on 23 Jan 2015.

The statement was a rare display of defiance from Yingluck; the former leader has not commented on the coup or Thai politics in general since the military seized power on 22 May 2014. Other Pheu Thai Party and Redshirt figures have also largely asked their supporters to "cooperate" with the military junta. 

Junta leaders have repeatedly asked Yingluck's supporters not to protest the impeachment verdict, which analysts say may increase tension between Thailand's bitterly divided politicalcamps. However, the streets of Bangkok remained calm on Friday, with the public adhering to the junta's ban on all political activities and protests. 

BANGKOK — Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been impeached by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), a body whose members were handpicked by the Thai military junta after the 22 May 2014 coup that ousted Yingluck’s elected government.

One hundred and ninety of the 219 NLA members present for the secret ballot voting this morning voted in favor of impeaching Yingluck for allegedly failing to stop corruption in her administration’s rice-pledging scheme. Eighteen NLA members voted against the impeachment, 8 abstained, and 3 ballots were spoilt. 

As a result of the retrospective impeachment, Yingluck now faces a five year ban from politics.

Yingluck was accused of dereliction of duty in her government's rice-pledging scheme, which Thailand’s national anti-graft agency said cost the country 500 billion baht in damages due to mismanagement and corruption. 

Under the rice-pledging program, a key police of Yingluck’s administration, the Thai government bought rice from farmers at above-market prices, but then struggled to sell the paddies on the international market, accumulating stockpiles and resulting in huge financial loses.

Today's impeachment is the latest in a series of legal punishments handed down to Yingluck and her government. In May 2014, she was ousted from her office by the Constitutional Court on an abuse of power charge for transferring the head of the national security agency in 2011. 

The remnants of her government were toppled a few weeks later, on 22 May 2014, in a military coup led by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is now Prime Minister and handpicked the current lawmaker body that impeached Yingluck today. 

Earlier today, the Attorney-General also announced that it will prosecute Yingluck in the Supreme Court's Division for Holders of Political Office for alleged negligence in the rice-pledging scheme. 

If found guilty of the criminal charges, Yingluck could face up to 10 years in prison.

Around 100 of the 220 members of the NLA are active or former military officers, widely considered to be allied to the ruling junta and hostile to Yingluck and her political camp.

The impeachment is considered the latest development in a decade-long struggle for power between political parties led by Yingluck and her brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, and Thailand's royalist-military establishment. The move is expected to increase tension between the two camps, although political activities and gatherings of any kind remain banned under the junta's orders. 

Gen. Prayuth and other junta leaders have insisted that they did not order the NLA to vote in any particular direction regarding Yingluck's impeachment. 

However, Gen. Prayuth said on 19 Janaury that he would not feel pity for Yingluck if she were to be impeached. 

"If someone does something wrong, will you feel pity for that person? Even if you feel pity, you can't do anything anyway, because it's against the law," Gen. Prayuth told reporters. "Will you not respect the laws at all? Will you not respect the court or rules of the country at all?"

Yingluck is the first Prime Minister to be impeached by parliament in the history of Thailand. 

In the same voting session today, the NLA decided not to impeach two other former politicians, Somsak Kiatsuranont and Nikom Wairatpanij, who were charged with violating the consitution for trying to amend Thailand's 2007 charter to make the Senate a fully elected body.