Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra invites press into her vegetable garden as she battles corruption charges

After living a low-profile life for almost two years, Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s ousted former prime minister and sister of fugitive premier Thaksin Shinawatra, opened her home to the foreign press corps in Bangkok on Friday for the first time since being overthrown by the country’s 2014 coup.

Showing off her salad garden, the country’s first female prime minister opened up about her life in the wake of the coup, and her hopes for the country’s return to democracy.

Speaking in the hydroponic vegetable garden, filled with blossoming lettuces and colourful chilies, Yingluck’s first post-coup meeting with international media came after she told reporters earlier she intended to speak out more, despite the military’s bans.

A similar meeting was held in early January for Thai media, causing a stir for Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who had publicly issued several warnings to Yingluck to refrain from expressing her political views, with the threat of potential consequences such as travel restrictions and a ban on financial transactions.

“We need to find some space. We need to speak out sometimes if our message was misused or misled,” Yingluck told reporters.

Besides multiple charges in court, Yingluck faces a five-year ban from politics after the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly voted to impeach her over allegedly causing a huge loss through a rice-pledging scheme.

“We are trying to prove ourselves to the court and the public. We hope that one day people will understand. I will do my best,” she said, while also expressing hopes that her witnesses, who were rejected by the National Anti-Corruption Commission and prosecutors, would be accepted by the court.