Thailand’s Supreme Court on Tuesday (Sep 9) ruled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail, in another major blow for a powerful family that has dominated politics for two decades.
Police would take Thaksin into custody, a Reuters reporter who attended the verdict said.
The court, which had been deliberating whether his hospital stay in 2023 could legally count as time served, said the detention was not served according to procedure.
Thaksin was elected prime minister in 2001 and again in 2005, but took himself into exile after his second term was cut short by a military coup.
On his return in August 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and abuse of power.
However, he spent only a few hours in jail before being transferred to a private room in Bangkok’s Police General Hospital after complaining of heart trouble and chest pains, prompting widespread scepticism and public outrage.
His sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power was commuted to one year by the king and Thaksin was released on parole after just six months, the entirety of which he had spent in the VIP wing of the hospital.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-thaksin-shinawatra-jail-1-year-verdict-hospital-stay-5339256
