Thai PM Thaksin eligible for parole

19/9/2023 6:02

        Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could be released on parole as early as late February, having already had an eight-year prison sentence commuted to one year following his return from self-exile.
        
        Thailand's most famous politician made a dramatic homecoming last month, 15 years after he entered self-exile, having been ousted by a military coup in 2006.
        
        While abroad, Thaksin was found guilty in absentia in three cases involving abuse of power, conflict of interest and malfeasance.
        
        His return to Thailand coincided with emergence of his ally Srettha Thavisin as the country's new prime minister, following months of uncertainty in the wake of an election in May that resulted in defeat for the ruling pro-military party.
        
        Parties aligned with Thaksin have won every election since 2001 up until this year's poll when the Pheu Thai, the party backed by his family, came second.
        
        The telecommunications billionaire, whose brash personality and populist policies appealed to poorer Thais, clashed with the country's old money elites and royalist military, which also ousted his sister's government in 2014.