Thailand's ex-PM Thaksin set for early prison release

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is set to be released early from prison next month, the country’s corrections department announced on Wednesday, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

Thaksin, 76, has been serving a one-year sentence for corruption since September.

According to the department, he will be released on May 11 but must comply with all probation conditions until the end of his sentence, including wearing an electronic monitoring device.

Authorities said his age and the limited time remaining on his sentence were key factors behind the decision to grant early release.

For more than two decades, Thaksin’s political network has been a major rival to Thailand’s pro-military and pro-royalty establishment, which has often viewed his populist policies as a challenge to the traditional order.

His Pheu Thai Party, along with its earlier forms, has been one of the most successful political forces in Thailand in the 21st century. The Shinawatra family has produced four prime ministers and built strong support among rural voters.

However, Pheu Thai recorded its poorest election performance in February, finishing third and raising uncertainty about the future of Thaksin’s political influence.

Despite this, the party’s participation in the ruling coalition led by conservative Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has left open the possibility of a political resurgence.

Thaksin’s nephew and Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate, Yodchanan Wongsawat, currently serves as minister of higher education in Anutin’s cabinet.

Thaksin is serving his sentence in a Bangkok prison following a Supreme Court ruling last year that determined he had improperly served a 2023 sentence in a hospital room rather than in a prison cell.

He previously served as prime minister after winning elections in 2001 and 2005, before being ousted in a military coup during his second term and going into exile.

After returning to Thailand in August 2023, Thaksin was initially sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and abuse of power. However, his sentence was reduced to one year by royal pardon, and he was initially placed in a private hospital room on health grounds instead of prison.

The circumstances surrounding his return and hospitalization — which coincided with Pheu Thai forming a government — sparked public speculation about possible political arrangements and allegations of preferential treatment.

In September, the Supreme Court ruled that Thaksin had not been critically ill and that his time in hospital could not be counted toward his sentence. As a result, he was transferred to prison to serve the remaining term.

Thaksin is among more than 850 inmates approved for early release on Wednesday, according to the corrections department.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev