Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra charged with royal insult

The complaint concerns a 2015 interview Thaksin Shinawatra gave while in South Korea
Thailand has some of the strictest royal defamation laws protecting the King and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence

Thailand

Agence France-PresseandReuters

Published: 5:00pm, 6 Feb 2024

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Thai police have charged former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with lèse-majesté over comments he made almost a decade ago, officials said on Tuesday, though it is not clear if the case will go to court.

Thailand has some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence.

The constitution states the king must be held in a position of “revered worship”.

Thai king reduces former PM Thaksin’s prison sentence to one year

Controversial billionaire Thaksin, twice prime minister but ousted in a 2006 coup, returned from self-exile in August last year and was immediately jailed on old corruption and abuse-of-power charges.

The 74-year-old was transferred to a police hospital almost straight away and has undergone at least two operations.

Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told reporters police filed lèse-majesté charges late last month against Thaksin, over a 2015 interview he gave while in South Korea and was filed by a junta that ran Thailand after the military overthrew a government led by Thaksin’s sister. Thaksin has repeatedly pledged loyalty to the monarchy.

Prayuth, told reporters the delay in acting on the royal insults complaint was because Thaksin had been abroad.

02:50

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra jailed for 8 years upon return from exile

Prosecutors will wait for police to complete their investigation before deciding whether to proceed with the case against Thaksin, Prayuth said.

Thaksin denies the charge and has written to the attorney general asking for fair treatment, Prayuth said. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thailand’s current government is backed by the Shinawatra family, with Thaksin’s return from exile coinciding with ally and real estate mogul Srettha Thavisin becoming prime minister that same day.

Thaksin’s allies have denied speculation of a back room political deal between the former leader and his powerful enemies.

Thaksin’s back, but Thailand’s anti-democratic forces are as strong as ever

The announcement of a possible new case against Thaksin comes a week after Move Forward, the largest party in parliament, was forced by a court to abandon its controversial plan to amend the lèse-majesté law.

Move Forward was hit days after by a succession of complaints seeking its dissolution and life bans for dozens of lawmakers over its stance on the law protecting the crown.

Loved by millions of rural Thais for his populist policies in the early 2000s, Thaksin is reviled by the country’s royalist and pro-military establishment, which spent much of the past two decades trying to keep him and his allies out of power.

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