Thailand's former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1-year prison term for previous convictions

Audio By Carbonatix

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Supreme Court said Tuesday former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must serve a one-year prison term for previous convictions on graft and abuse of power charges, after investigating whether officials had mishandled his return to Thailand in 2023 to begin serving the sentences.

A judge said that the enforcement of Thaksin’s penalty was not done properly, and therefore his detention in a police hospital did not count as serving prison time.

Following his return to Thailand after more than a decade of living in self-exile, Thaksin was sent to a suite at Bangkok’s Police General Hospital in the middle of the night, reportedly for medical reasons, after spending less than a day in prison. His eight-year sentence was then commuted to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and he was released on parole after six months in the hospital.

The circumstances raised questions about whether he received special treatment and many were suspicious whether he was genuinely ill.

The court's statement Tuesday said evidence showed that Thaksin's condition on that night was treatable by the prison's hospital, but that he was instead sent directly to the police hospital without first being assessed by prison doctors, which was a violation of procedures.

It also said that the police hospital's request for an extension of his stay claimed that Thaksin needed urgent neck surgery, but a record showed that he received surgeries for a locked finger joint and tendonitis in his right shoulder, which were not serious conditions and not what originally sent him to the hospital. The court added Thaksin did not end up having neck surgery before his release.

It also said that Thaksin was believed to have intervened in the treatment procedures to avoid having to go back to the prison, and that he falsely claimed having a health condition in order to be sent to the hospital.

Thaksin was sent to the Bangkok Remand Prison after the proceedings. A message on his Facebook page, shared by his team following the ruling, said that he accepted the court’s decision.

“I’d like to look into the future, to give conclusions to everything, whether the legal proceedings or the conflicts that were caused by or related to me,” read the post. “From today, although I’m without freedom, I still have freedom of thought for the benefit of the country and its people.”

Before the ruling, Thaksin arrived at the court with his family, including two of his children, Pintongta Shinawatra, and former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was removed from her position last month after a court found her guilty of an ethics violation for a politically compromising phone call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen.

Paetongtarn spoke to reporters after the ruling, thanking the king for commuting Thaksin's sentence. She said Thaksin would remain a spiritual leader in Thai politics and that he always thinks about working for the good of the country and Thai people.

“I'm worried about my father, but I'm also proud that he has created so many historic moments for the country,” she said. “It's quite tough, but of course we are still in a good spirit, both my father and our family.”

Thaksin was prime minister from 2001 until a military coup ousted him in 2006 while he was abroad.

His ouster triggered nearly two decades of deep political polarization, pitting his supporters against opponents including better-off urban dwellers, ardent royalists and the military. He briefly returned in 2008 to face charges but skipped bail and fled abroad again, commencing a self-imposed exile lasting over a decade.

After leaving office, he faced a barrage of lawsuits and criminal charges he claimed were politically motivated.

Last month, a criminal court acquitted him of royal defamation, an offense also known as lese-majeste, which could have resulted in a 15-year prison sentence.