Yingluck Shinawatra, former Thai Prime Minister, has been Serbia’s citizen since June this year with the Government’s explanation that “it could be in the interest of Serbia,” the Nedeljnik weekly reported on Thursday.
Shinawatra fled Thailand two years ago to avoid a five-year prison term on corruption charges.
She was toppled in a coup in 2014, while her billionaire brother Thaksin, who was also prime minister, experienced the same fate in 2006, According to the weekly, Thaksin holds Montenegrin passport since 2009. He is widely known as a former owner of the English Manchester City soccer team.
Thaksin also avoided jail by “self-imposed exile” and lives in the UK. His sister's whereabouts are unknown, the weekly said, as it is unclear how she has received the citizenship when she has never visited Serbia, nor there are reports that she has ever met any of Serbia's officials.
With Serbia’s passport, she can travel without a visa to over 100 countries, including most of the European Union member states. The weekly said that Serbia’s Government had granted some 106 citizenships since 2016 (10 this year, 54 in 2018, 24 the year before and 18 in 2016.)
Among them are Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan, Samir el Mashharawi and Sufian Abu Zaida, former and current members of a Palestinian nationalist political party Fatah.
Dahlan received the citizenship in 2013 together with his wife and four children, the weekly said. A few months earlier the then President Tomislav Nikolic decorated him with the Serbian Flag Medal for “cementing the peaceful cooperation and friendly relations between Serbia and UAE.”
Dahlan was expelled from Fatah in 2011 since he was publicly suspected of killing Yasser Arafat. He was also mentioned regarding the killing of Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian dissident, author, and columnist for The Washington Post, who was killed in this country’s consulate in Istanbul where he went to pick up documents needed for his wedding.
Serbia has also granted citizenship to several foreigners who have businesses in the country.
