Thai prosecutors decided to formally charge former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a royal defamation case, creating fresh legal risk for the head of the political dynasty that controls the country¡¯s ruling party.
Prosecutors said they have enough evidence to indict the 74-year-old former leader under the country¡¯s lese majeste law that protects the country¡¯s royal family from criticism. Thaksin will need to be physically present to hear the indictment, Prayut Bejraguna, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, told a news conference.
Thaksin, whose lawyer submitted a medical certificate showing he¡¯s contracted COVID-19, was ordered to appear before prosecutors on June 18 to be taken to a court, Prayut said. He will be eligible to apply for a bail pending trial, Prayut said.
The popular politician also faces charges of violating the country¡¯s Computer Crime Act, Prayut said. The charges stem from an interview Thaksin gave in Seoul in 2015 that prosecutors deemed had breached Article 112 of Thailand¡¯s penal code, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years for each offense of defaming the monarchy.
Thaksin¡¯s indictment comes days after a court decided to scrutinize a petition against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin over his decision to appoint a former lawyer with a prison history as minister. The petition by a group of senators was seen as an attempt by Thailand¡¯s conservative establishment trying to reassert its hold over the nation¡¯s politics that¡¯s now being dominated by Thaksin¡¯s Pheu Thai Party.
The attorney general¡¯s move to indict Thaksin upholds a decision made by a former head of the office in 2016. Legal action could not advance at the time because Thaksin had not been present after fleeing Thailand in 2008 to avoid corruption charges.
Thaksin, who held the country¡¯s top political office from 2001 until being ousted in a 2006 coup, is currently on parole after being sentenced in corruption cases. Thaksin is due to walk free after his royally commuted prison terms end in August this year.
He returned to Thailand after a messy general election last year that eventually saw the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai Party rise to power after nearly a decade of military-backed rule. His homecoming was seen as part of a deal with the military establishment that ousted him and later his sister Yingluck Shinawatra¡¯s government in 2014.
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