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Thailand’s ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra gets royal pardon

Thailand’s ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra received a royal pardon shortening his parole by two weeks, his lawyer said on August 17.

Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand after 15 years in exile on August 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand after 15 years in exile on August 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra received a royal pardon shortening his parole by two weeks, his lawyer said on August 17.

Thaksin is among the prisoners who received the royal pardon for prisoners in honour of the King’s birthday in July.

The information was released just a day after his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was elected as Prime Minister of Thailand by the House of Representatives.

After a return in August 2023 from self-exile to avoid jail time in the wake of his overthrow in a 2006 military coup, Thaksin served six months in hospital detention, due to health reasons, before being released on parole in February 2024.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison for abuse of power and conflicts of interest during his time in office from 2001 to 2006. His sentence was commuted to one year by the King in September 2023./.

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