TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Thailand’s former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who’s serving a one-year prison term for corruption, is set to be released on parole in May, according to a Department of Corrections statement on Wednesday, DW reported.
Shinawatra, who is 76 years old, will walk out of prison on May 11 and will “need to comply with all conditions” until his probation ends, including wearing an electronic monitor, the statement said.
His age and the fact that he had less than a year left to serve out his sentence justified his early release, the statement added.
Why was Shinwatra in prison?
Shinawatra began serving his prison sentence on September 9 in Bangkok’s Klong Prem Central Prison.
That sentence followed a court hearing on whether officials had mishandled Shinawatra’s return to Thailand in 2023, after he spent years in self-exile.
Shinawatra was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006. He fled Thailand in 2008 when he faced prison time for conflict of interest, abuse of power, and corruption during his time in power.
Shinawatra, who’s also a billionare businessman, said the charges were politically motivated.
He was sentenced to an eight-year prison term as soon as he returned to Thailand in 2023. Days later, the king commuted his sentence to a one-year term, fueling speculations that he had made a deal with the government friendly to him.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, giving the king the final word on pardons of convicted criminals.
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