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Aidan Jones

Agencies

Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire tycoon who once dominated Thai politics, spent his first night behind bars on Tuesday after the Supreme Court sentenced him to a year in prison.
The verdict was a stunning blow for the former prime minister, whose political dynasty has, for now, been pushed aside.
Thailand’s top court found on Tuesday that Thaksin, 76, knowingly exaggerated illness in 2023 to secure a lengthy stay in a VIP ward of a police hospital rather than in a prison cell.
Judges ruled that his time there could not be counted as time served, saying the doctors who certified him as unwell were not solely responsible for the deception.

Thaksin returned to Thailand in August 2023 after 15 years of self-exile to avoid prison for corruption and abuse of power convictions. He has always maintained that the charges were politically motivated.
His comeback was widely seen as an apparent rehabilitation by Thailand’s establishment.
Soon afterwards, Thaksin’s Pheu Thai Party shocked supporters by forming a coalition with conservative rivals who had once plotted his downfall – a deal many analysts saw as a pact to sideline the radical Move Forward Party, which had swept a general election just a month before his return.
On Tuesday, Thaksin said on social media that he respected the court’s decision and would remain strong while serving his sentence.


“Today I may no longer have freedom, but I still have freedom of thought for the benefit of the country and people,” he wrote in a post that appeared online moments after being taken into custody.
Initially facing eight years in prison for conflicts of interest and abuse of power, Thaksin’s sentence was later reduced to one by royal pardon. Even so, his avoidance of jail time for nearly two years drew outrage from his opponents, highlighting his uniquely polarising position in Thai politics.

Power-broker’s plight
Few figures have defined modern Thai democracy, or split public opinion, more than Thaksin.
Sweeping to power in 2001 on a landslide, he became the only elected prime minister to complete a full four-year term until 2005.
Beloved by millions of rural and working‑class Thais, he introduced lasting policies such as the “30 baht” healthcare scheme, scholarships for rural students and start‑up funds for village entrepreneurs.
But his rise whipped up deep resentment among the Bangkok‑based establishment, which accused him of arrogance, corruption and nepotism.


He was toppled in a 2006 coup, fled the country in 2008 and has since sat at the crux of a two-decade political cycle of elections, protests, coups and court rulings that have repeatedly paralysed Thailand.
The political tug of war has also ensnared his family. In 2014, his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by another coup. She now lives in exile.
Just last week, the Supreme Court disqualified his daughter, Paetongtarn, as prime minister following the leak of a phone call with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former leader and one‑time Thaksin ally.
Speaking outside court on Tuesday, Paetongtarn said she was concerned for her father. “But I’m also proud that he has created so many historic moments for the country,” she told reporters.

Her downfall triggered the collapse of the Pheu Thai‑led government, making way for a new administration under Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai party, best known for its push to decriminalise cannabis.
Pheu Thai is now in opposition, its reputation battered by the chaos of the past two years.
Thaksin’s own legacy is equally tarnished. His decision in 2023 to strike a coalition deal with long‑time adversaries alienated wide sections of his base and blocked the more radical Move Forward Party from power.
Once hailed as a champion of democracy, he has since been accused by critics of bargaining away ideals for the continued survival of his family name.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra jailed after apex court rejects hospital stay

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Thaksin Shinawatra (second from left) is escorted into a vehicle as he leaves the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Thaksin Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Police officers stand guard during the issuing of the verdict on Thaksin Shinawatra’s case at the Supreme Court in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Thaksin Shinawatra with his daughter, former Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, outside the Supreme Court in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Anutin Charnvirakul elected as Thailand’s new PM, ending political stalemate

Anutin Charnvirakul greets lawmakers at parliament in Bangkok on Friday. Photo: EPA

A demonstrator with face paint in the colours of the Thai flag holds a sign reading ‘No prime minister from the Pheu Thai Party’  outside parliament in Bangkok on Friday. Photo: EPA

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A 68-year-old Thai woman collects belongings from her home, destroyed by Cambodian artillery attacks, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Bunkers to protect residents against shelling are seen in in Thailand’s Surin province on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

An empty beach in Koh Phangan. Thailand has endured a tourism slump in recent months. Photo: dpa

Paetongtarn Shinawatra (second from left), suspended as prime minister but still serving as culture minister, arrives for a cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Hun Sen speaks at a press conference at Cambodia’s National Assembly in 2023. Photo: Reuters

Cannabis advocates hold banners and an upside-down photograph of Thai Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthi during a rally in Bangkok on July 7 protesting against the government’s new restrictions. Photo: EPA

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Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at Don Muang airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: AP

Thai lawyer Winyat Chatmontri, who represents former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, speaks to reporters after prosecutors indicted Thaksin on allegations of lese majeste, in Bangkok.Photo: EPA-EFE

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (right) sitting next to current Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during a dinner in Chiang Mai in March. Photo: AFP

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A judge ruled that the billionaire ex-PM’s time in a VIP hospital room could not count as time served towards his jail sentence


A judge ruled that the billionaire ex-PM’s time in a VIP hospital room could not count as time served towards his jail sentence.
