©Reuters. Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sits next to his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as they leave a police hospital after being granted parole, in Bangkok, Thailand, February 18, 2024. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
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By Napat Wesshasartar and Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole on Sunday, his lawyer said, marking a first day of freedom in his homeland, 15 years after he fled following his overthrow by part of the royalist army.
The influential billionaire, whose family party is now in power in Thailand, has been freed from hospital detention for six months after a sentence for abuse of power and conflict of interest, commuted from eight to one years by the country’s king.
Reuters journalists saw Thaksin, 74, leaving hospital in a black Mercedes van early Sunday morning, wearing a green T-shirt and with his arm in a sling, sitting next to his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the ruling Pheu party Thai.
Thaksin was eligible for parole due to his age, health condition and time served and had been detained in hospital for health reasons.
The vehicle was seen arriving at the family’s residence in Bangkok about 25 minutes later.
Paetongtarn shared a post from one of her Instagram followers along with an image of her in the vehicle with her father, which carried the message: “Thaksin has arrived home, hope he is in good health.”
His lawyer Winyat Chartmontri told Reuters that Thaksin had completed parole proceedings and had been formally released.
Thailand’s best-known and most polarizing prime minister, Thaksin has loomed over politics for two decades, despite 15 years of self-imposed exile to avoid prison, charges he long insisted were engineered by his enemies to keep him at bay.
Thaksin made a dramatic return from exile in August to serve his prison sentence and was greeted by cheering crowds and a media frenzy.
He was transferred to hospital suffering from high blood pressure and chest pains on his first night in prison, and has been detained there ever since.
Thaksin has been at the center of a long power struggle in Thailand between warring elites, an on-and-off battle marked by bouts of sometimes violent street protests by rival movements and the overthrow of three Shinawatra-backed governments by rulings of the court and military coups. .
He insists he has retired from politics.