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Thailand
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Thailand’s ex-PM Thaksin to face trial for royal defamation amid conservative backlash against his influence

  • Thailand’s lese-majeste law, which carries up to 15 years in jail per conviction, has been wielded against pro-democracy activists in recent years
  • The case against Thaksin is seen as a conservative blowback against the Thaksin clan’s influence in Thai politics for over two decades

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Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at Don Muang airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: AP
Aidan Jones
Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s divisive two-time former prime minister, will be indicted for royal defamation over media comments made nearly a decade ago, a potential sign of a conservative backlash against a government dominated by his loyalists.
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The 74-year-old billionaire, the nation’s most influential politician over the last two decades, faces the kingdom’s tough lese-majeste law, which shields the powerful monarchy from criticism, over an allegation that he defamed the monarchy in an interview with South Korean media in 2015 while in self-exile.

He also faces a separate charge under a law for criminal computer crimes, according to the attorney-general’s office.

Thaksin did not appear before the court on Wednesday after his lawyers asked for a postponement, saying he had contracted Covid-19.

“The Attorney-General has decided to indict Thaksin Shinawatra on all charges, and Thaksin must appear before the court on June 18,” Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesman for the office, told reporters.

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Thaksin’s indictment comes just days after the Constitutional Court agreed to hear a case against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, after he appointed Thaksin’s former lawyer Pichit Chuenban to a cabinet post, despite the acolyte having been jailed for six months for attempted bribery.
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