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Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra charged with royal insult
- The complaint concerns a 2015 interview Thaksin Shinawatra gave while in South Korea
- Thailand has some of the strictest royal defamation laws protecting the King and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence
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Thai police have charged former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with lèse-majesté over comments he made almost a decade ago, officials said on Tuesday, though it is not clear if the case will go to court.
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Thailand has some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence.
The constitution states the king must be held in a position of “revered worship”.
Controversial billionaire Thaksin, twice prime minister but ousted in a 2006 coup, returned from self-exile in August last year and was immediately jailed on old corruption and abuse-of-power charges.
The 74-year-old was transferred to a police hospital almost straight away and has undergone at least two operations.
Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told reporters police filed lèse-majesté charges late last month against Thaksin, over a 2015 interview he gave while in South Korea and was filed by a junta that ran Thailand after the military overthrew a government led by Thaksin’s sister. Thaksin has repeatedly pledged loyalty to the monarchy.
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Prayuth, told reporters the delay in acting on the royal insults complaint was because Thaksin had been abroad.
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