Thai court to decide on trial of ex-PM Yingluck

Thailand's Supreme Court was Thursday set to decide whether to proceed with the prosecution of former premier Yingluck Shinawatra over a bungled rice subsidy that could see her jailed for up to a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Thailand's first female prime minister and sister of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra that could spell the end of her family's political dominance.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

In February Thailand's attorney general filed criminal charges against Yingluck, accusing her of "dereliction of duty" in relation to the economically disastrous rice scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

The programme cost billions of dollars and inspired the protests that eventually felled Yingluck's elected government and led to May's military coup.

The court decision due at around 10am comes less than two months after the retroactive impeachment of the former premier by an assembly appointed by the ruling generals -- a move that carries an automatic five-year ban from politics.

Yingluck is not expected to attend the Bangkok court on Thursday.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in Thailand's turbulent political landscape, at the heart of which sits Thaksin, who was toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Yet his influence persists in Thai politics with Shinawatra allied parties drawing the loyalty of the rural north as well as urban working-class voters for their populist policies.

But Thaksin is loathed by much of the country's royalist elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, and experts say the impeachment and charges against Yingluck is their latest attempt to extinguish the political prowess of the Shinawatras.

The junta has said it will hold fresh elections in early 2016 once reforms to tackle corruption and curb the power of political parties are codified in a new constitution.

But the draft charter has already raised deep concerns in the kingdom, and critics doubt whether it will bridge Thailand's deep political divisions.