A court in Thailand has dismissed a high-profile case against the country’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra over allegations he violated the country’s strict laws on royal defamation, the billionaire and his lawyer said.
“The case was dismissed,” Thaksin told reporters with a smile as he left the court following the verdict on Friday.
“The court dismissed the charges against Thaksin, ruling that the evidence presented was insufficient,” his lawyer Winyat Chatmontree said.
The criminal court in Bangkok later confirmed it had dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence.
The case was brought by the royalist military alleging Thaksin, 76, had violated Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law during a 2015 interview with foreign media when he commented on a 2014 military coup that overthrew his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, as prime minister.
Thaksin denied wrongdoing and has repeatedly pledged allegiance to the king, who is enshrined in the Thai constitution as being in a position of “revered worship”, with the palace viewing support for the monarchy as sacrosanct.
Thaksin’s case was the highest-profile among more than 280 prosecutions in recent years under the controversial lese-majeste laws, which activists say have been abused by conservatives to silence dissent and sideline political rivals.
Thailand’s royalists say such laws are necessary to protect the crown.
Thaksin remains a major force in Thai politics despite being retired and having previously spent 15 years in self-imposed exile before his return to the country in 2023.
However, his family’s political dynasty remains on the ropes, with his daughter and Thailand’s current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra facing her own legal reckoning next week with a court decision due, which may see her thrown out of office.
Paetongtarn, 39, faces the prospect of dismissal by the Constitutional Court for an alleged violation of ethics over a telephone conversation with Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen, which was leaked by the former Cambodian premier to embarrass the Thai leader.
Thaksin also faces another key legal test in September, when the Supreme Court will decide whether his six-month stint in hospital detention prior to his release on parole in 2024 – over abuse of power and conflict of interest charges while in office – should count as time served in jail.
If the case goes against him, Thaksin could potentially be made to serve the time again in prison.
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