{"id":5465,"date":"2025-08-22T07:19:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/thailands-thaksin-faces-royal-insult-verdict-today-possible-15-year-jail-term-as-familys-political-dynasty-falters\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T07:19:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:19:26","slug":"thailands-thaksin-faces-royal-insult-verdict-today-possible-15-year-jail-term-as-familys-political-dynasty-falters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/thailands-thaksin-faces-royal-insult-verdict-today-possible-15-year-jail-term-as-familys-political-dynasty-falters\/","title":{"rendered":"Thailand\u2019s Thaksin faces royal insult verdict today, possible 15-year jail term as family\u2019s political dynasty falters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BANGKOK, Aug 22 — Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will learn his fate on today in a royal insult case that could see him jailed, as the political dynasty he founded falters after two decades of dominating Thai politics.<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old faces up to 15 years in prison if the Bangkok court finds him guilty of breaching Thailand’s strict lese-majeste laws that criminalise almost any criticism of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his family.<\/p>\n

The verdict, expected from 10:00 am (0300 GMT), comes a week before another court rules whether Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, will be thrown out of office as prime minister.<\/p>\n

If both verdicts go against them, it would be a watershed for Thai politics, spelling the end of the family’s time in high office after a 20-year period that has seen three Shinawatra prime ministers.<\/p>\n

Thaksin’s royal defamation case stems from remarks he made in an interview with South Korean media in 2015, relating to the 2014 military coup that overthrew his sister Yingluck.<\/p>\n

AFP is not able to report Thaksin’s comments in detail because the lese-majeste law is so strict that doing so could in itself constitute a criminal offence.<\/p>\n

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Years of tussle <\/strong><\/p>\n

Thaksin, who testified in his own defence last month, has been the defining figure of Thai politics for a quarter of a century.<\/p>\n

The country has been roiled by a succession of coups, street protests and court orders as Thaksin and his followers tussled for power with the traditional pro-royalist, pro-military elite that sees him as corrupt, nepotistic and a threat to Thailand’s traditional social order.<\/p>\n

Twice elected prime minister in the early 2000s, Thaksin fled Thailand and lived in self-imposed exile for 15 years after he was ousted in a military coup, finally returning to the kingdom in August 2023.<\/p>\n

He landed in Bangkok on the same day his family’s Pheu Thai party took office at the head of a coalition government backed by their conservative former enemies, fuelling suspicions a backroom deal had been struck.<\/p>\n

On arrival, Thaksin was immediately sentenced to eight years in prison on graft and abuse of power charges dating back to his time in office.<\/p>\n

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But instead of going to jail, he was whisked to a private room at a police hospital because of health problems.<\/p>\n

Days later, the king cut his sentence to one year, and in February 2024, he was freed as part of an early release scheme for elderly prisoners.<\/p>\n

His handling has led to another legal case, set to conclude on September 9, arguing that because he never served time in a jail cell, he was not eligible for early release.<\/p>\n

Rise in prosecutions <\/strong><\/p>\n

Prosecutions for lese-majeste, known as 112 in Thailand for its section in the criminal code, have increased sharply since anti-government protests in 2020, some of which openly criticised the monarchy.<\/p>\n

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a group providing legal services in many of the cases, says that more than 280 people have been prosecuted under section 112 in the last five years.<\/p>\n

The law says anyone who “defames, insults or threatens” the king, queen, heir or regent can face up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Rights groups and critics say the law is now interpreted so broadly as to stifle dissent and legitimate debate. — AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thailand’s Thaksin faces royal insult verdict today, possible 15-year jail term as family’s political dynasty falters<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BANGKOK, Aug 22 — Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will learn his fate on today in a royal insult case that could see him jailed, as the political dynasty he founded falters after two decades of dominating Thai politics. The 76-year-old faces up to 15 years in prison if the Bangkok court finds him guilty…<\/p>\n

Read More “Thailand\u2019s Thaksin faces royal insult verdict today, possible 15-year jail term as family\u2019s political dynasty falters”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}