BANGKOK, Sep 9: Thailand’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail, in another major blow for a powerful family that has dominated politics for two decades. The court said he should serve prison time that he skipped while in hospital detention.
Police would take Mr. Thaksin into custody, a Reuters reporter who attended the verdict said. Mr. Thaksin had yet to leave the courthouse.
On return from 15 years of self-imposed exile in 2023, Mr. Thaksin spent only a few hours in prison before being transferred to hospital complaining of heart trouble and chest pains, prompting widespread scepticism and public outrage.
His eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power was commuted to one year by the king and Mr. Thaksin was released on parole after just six months, the entirety of which he had spent in the VIP wing of a hospital.
Mr. Thaksin is experiencing a period of political reckoning after his daughter and protégé, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was sacked as Prime Minister by a court 11 days ago — the sixth premier from or backed by the Shinawatra family to be removed by the judiciary or military.
Days of chaos ensued before Paetongtarn’s government fell on Friday, outmanoeuvred by challenger Anutin Charnvirakul, who was elected premier by parliament in a humiliating defeat for Thaksin’s once unstoppable Pheu Thai party.
Wearing a suit and yellow tie, the colour associated with Thailand’s monarchy, Mr. Thaksin arrived at the court with his family and greeted hundreds of media workers outside, with about a dozen of his red-shirted supporters nearby carrying his picture and hand-written placards. (Agencies)
