The trial is just a glorified statement of intent. The military regime think that this will send a message to the red shirts but that's counter-productive at best and provocative at worst.
The rice subsidy was a populist policy, of course it was, but to jail a politician for that would be to rid the world of politics altogether.
The next election (whenever we may be lucky enough to get one) is just going to return the same result. If the elite don't like it, they will take power back again; rinse and repeat. What a mess.ว