Prosecutors in Thailand say they will indict former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for violating the law that forbids any criticism of the Thai royal family.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office told reporters Wednesday the 74-year-old Thaksin must appear in court on June 18 to answer the charges. Thakisn’s attorney, Winyat Chartmontri, told reporters his client was unable to appear in court Wednesday because he is currently suffering from COVID-19.
The charges are based on an interview he gave to foreign journalists in 2015 while in Seoul.
More than 270 people have been tried in recent years for violating Thailand’s lese majeste law, one of the strictest in the world, which carries a potential 15-year prison sentence.
Thaksin will also be indicted for violating the country’s computer crime law the official said.
Thaksin was detained last August after returning to Thailand from 15 years of self-imposed exile to avoid imprisonment after being convicted of several corruption-related charges. He had been sentenced to eight years in prison, but his sentence was commuted to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. He served nearly all his sentence in a police hospital for treatment of an undisclosed condition.
The media tycoon was first elected prime minister in 2001 and gained a loyal following among Thailand’s rural poor for such policies as universal health care and cash payments to farmers. But he was overthrown in a coup in 2006 by a military aligned with members of Thailand’s pro-monarchy elite who saw him as a threat to their longstanding grip on the social order.
His return to Thailand coincided with his Pheu Thai party taking the reins of government despite coming in second place in last May’s elections. The progressive Move Forward Party and its coalition partners had scored an upset victory, but the conservative, military-backed Senate blocked party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from becoming prime minister.
Pheu Thai formed an alliance with military and pro-royalist lawmakers to form a government, which angered many of the party’s longtime supporters.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
