Thailand’s former PM Thaksin Shinawatra has been jailed upon returning to the country after 15 years in exile. But many believe he has struck a deal that will keep him from serving more than a short period in prison.
He arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday morning in a private jet, hours before his Pheu Thai party’s candidate Srettha Thavisin was voted the next Thai PM.
This cements Pheu Thai’s coalition with its former military rivals who deposed the party in 2014 in a coup.
Mr Thaksin, Thailand’s most successful elected leader, has long been feared by conservative royalists, who have backed military coups and contentious court cases to weaken him. He went into self-imposed exile in 2009 after being deposed by a coup two years earlier.
He arrived to cheers from hundreds of loyal “red shirt” supporters who had gathered overnight to see him, but he never greeted most of them.
Flanked by his two daughters and son, Mr Thaksin emerged briefly from the airport terminal. The 74-year-old was then taken to the Supreme Court where he was sentenced and then to Bangkok Remand Prison.
Credit: bbc.com
