Thai ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra granted royal pardon to mark queen’s birthday

The former leader served eight months of a one-year sentence for corruption before he was released on parole last month due to his age

Thaksin, who stood at the heart of a two-decade power struggle with rival sections of the Thai elite, served eight months of a one-year jail term for corruption and abuse of power. He was released from jail early last month due to his advancing age, with his term originally set to end by September.

A royal decree pardoning him at the king’s discretion became effective on Wednesday, the birthday of Queen Suthida. Royal birthdays and other symbolic dates are often marked with pardons of jailed prisoners.

Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat said on Wednesday that Thaksin was among those eligible for the latest royal clemency measure. “He is on the list,” Rutthapon told reporters at a royal ceremony. “He had less than one year remaining of his sentence.”

Thaksin’s lawyer, Winyat Chatmontree, said a government committee would still need to decide whether an electronic monitoring device that he had been wearing since last month would be removed.

The only Thai leader to win back-to-back elections, Thaksin stunned the conservative establishment in 2001 and 2005 by securing strong mandates from the rural and urban poor, who rewarded him for nursing the economy to recovery following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.