Bangkok, Thailand – A court is preparing to report whether the most automatic and controversial political figures over the past 25 years, Thaxin Shinwatra, insulted the esteemed monarchy in the country, a crime that can obtain the perpetrator in Prison for up to 15 years.
This accusation, according to the strict Royal Defamation Law in Thailand, stems from an interview with the 76-year-old business pole and former Prime Minister of the South Korea newspaper in 2015 regarding a military coup that led to his sister and then-Prime Minister Yingluk Shinwatra in 2014.
Although there is no official role in the government, Thaxin is still a tall figure flowing on the stormy Thailand policy, and the ruling will test on Friday the state of his long relationship with the strong royal establishment in the country.
“The prosecution is of great political importance,” said Barawong, a researcher in Thai Law and Policy at the College of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.
“If he is innocent, Mr. Thaxin will rely on the ruling as evidence that he was always loyal, unlike the accusations against his political opponents who abolish the conflicts over the past two decades,” Verbat told Al -Jazeera.
He said that the guilty judgment, on the other hand, could “lead to a new round of political conflicts.”
“Some may see that a collapse of the so -called major settlement that paved the way for Mr. Thaksin’s return to Thailand, and there is no doubt that many will link the guilty ruling to the other major suspended court decisions not only against Mr. Thaxin, but also his daughter and daughter and also The arrested Prime Minister Bittennagerna ShinwatraHe added.
After 15 years of self -exile, Thaxin returned to Thailand in 2023.
This long absence from Thailand helped him to avoid prison sentence on charges of previous corruption, although he was still forced to complete a deceptive period in his return to his home.
The latest of the accusation of the royal defamation in June 2024 stems, and he is also in a trial claiming to forge health aid for his sentence due to corruption outside the prison.
The daughter of Thaxin and the country’s suspended prime minister is tried A leakage phone call With the former Prime Minister in Cambodia and the powerful man Hun Sen.
The Paetongtarn Court suspended its duties as a president on an ethical basis last month after Hun Sen leaked his phone conversation, in which the Thai Prime Minister spoke in a feasible manner to the Cambodian leader.
During the call, Paetongtarn referred to Hun Sen in the name of “Uncle” and criticized the commander of the Thai army.
Ha Political opponents and other people He said that he had never been unprecedented by the Thai Prime Minister to address a large foreign leader, and the army’s criticism is also a red line in a country where the strong armed forces are held politically.
The court is scheduled to judge the Paetongtarn case on August 29, a ruling that can be removed from the office permanently.
Power player
Thaxin to the top of Thai policy It started modestly, with the extension of the national police force that begins in the early 1970s.
With the help of a government grant, he obtained a master’s degree and then a doctorate in criminal justice in the United States before returning to the public service in Thailand and resigned from the police force as a lieutenant colonel in 1987.
Take advantage of his professional communications, Thaxin tried his hand in a number of commercial projects before drawing the attention of gold in communications, establishing, and timely, building Shin Corp to the leader of the industry.
Thaxin also called the richest list in Thailand.
Last month, Forbes Thaksin ranked the eleventh among the richest families or people in the country, with a net personal value of $ 2.1 billion.
In the nineties, Thaxin began organizing his success in his work in a political profession, to establish his first parties at the end of the decade.
Against the background of the populist platform, which promised health care and mitigating debt at reasonable prices, he fell in the Prime Minister’s office by winning the resounding general elections in 2001 and another in 2005.
But the installation scandals reduced his second term for four years.
Amid accusations of corruption of the sale of Shin Corp, which cost $ 1.9 billion and a related land deal that led to mass protests, the Thai army removed Thaxin and its government in the 2006 coup.
The Thai court convicted him of the land deal next year. To avoid prison, he fled to the exile it imposed in 2008.
WANWICHIT BONPRONG, the Rangsit University lecturer, says Thaxin has made strong army enemies in the country-a force that has become accustomed to managing its internal affairs significantly from the government-by trying to direct the appointment and transfer of high employees.
By appearing to interfere in the work of the army, he told WANWICHit Al -Jazeera, Thaxin raised fears that he was determined to “undermine the army and weaken ownership.”
The army has always been proud of the final protector of Thai ownership, a burning stone for the conservative movement in the country.
Thaxin also started from rare work in 2005 to win enough seats in the House of Representatives to form a government without the need for any coalition partners, making it uncommonly strong as a political force.
This popularity is faintly criticized.
He said: “This popularity, in addition to its fast and frank way, has raised the doubts of many people that he might want it or may try to compete with King Bumipol (Adulayadej).”
While there is little, if any, evidence of this, Khemthong said, “It has become a very comfortable tool for filling people” against Thaxin.
“Super Active”
But even in exile abroad, Thaxin continued to control Thai policy.
The parties associated with the Shinwatra family continued to win the elections and form governments, only to thwart them by the army or courts each time.
With the prison sentence hanging on it, the technology pole remained for 15 years, until Bangkok returns to the crowds of chanting on August 22, 2023.
Before leaving the airport, Thaxin prostrated with the joy of himself in front of a picture of the new king in the country, Maha Fagiralongkorn, the son of the late King Bumpel.
On the same day, PHEU THAI, the latest SHINAATRAS party, won the excellent candidate, by retracting a planned alliance with the most advanced movement party, which won the general elections for this year.
Vio Tae refused speculation that it had struck a “big deal” with the conservative institution by moving away from moving forward, which carried out the forces of the army and ownership, in exchange for the safe return of Thaxin.
However, after only nine days, King Vagyralongkorn reduced the eight -year -old prison sentence, and was outside the conditional release within months. He also spent six months completely in a private room in the luxury wing of the State Hospital.
Now, with Thaksin on another conviction that you can send again to prison, the “Great Deal” is seen as wandering.
“Many people realize that when Thaxin returns, he was lying down, and he was allowed to return, but he was not allowed to political activity, he must stay at home, and be calm. But instead he was very active,” said Khumtong of the University of Chloalongkorn.
Although there is no official role in the PHEU party or the government that is now leading it, Thaksin spent a little time out of the spotlight since his return to home less than two years ago – proposing the characteristics of major policy in public organizations, as it is a tour of the electoral districts with correspondents in the clouds, which are compatible with both local and international leaders.
“Therefore, many people speculate that the accusation (defamation) was putting more control, controlling his behavior and political activity,” said Gamtong.
The prominent life style also led to the common belief that, not his daughter, is still the real power behind the party, and thus the government.
“Everyone knows that Thaxin is the spiritual leader and the true owner of the Thai Piu party,” said Wanwichit at Rangsit University.
Wanwichit added: “The use of (defamation) case is similar to an attempt to keep Thaxin in the conservative authority competition,” and insisting that “the conservative conservative guidelines must be obeyed.”
“The Battle of the Court”
Critics of the Royal Diagnostic Law in Thailand, or how the courts use it, says that it has been pushed long ago, such as commitment to threats – real or imagined – of the political authority of the conservative institution and its privilege.
Under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the law describes up to 15 years in prison for anyone “distorting, insulting or threatening” the king, queen, apparent heir, or registration.
But Vorapat, from Soas, says that many of the “victims” of the court of “broad interpretation” of the law.
In January 2024, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that the advanced party had violated the law by promoting a proposed law on how it is used.
The Judges Committee accused a hidden agenda shelter to undermine the country’s constitutional property and ordered to move forward as a political movement.
When thousands of demonstrators moved to the streets of Bangkok during most of them from 2020, and the government called the military alignment at that time to step down, the list of their demands grew to include reforms aimed at curbing the alleged influence of ownership on politics in favor of the army.
Since then, more than 280 people have been charged under Article 112, according to Thai Human Rights, a local support group.
Among the most prominent demonstrators in 2020, lawyer Arnon Namba, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison and eight months after his tenth convicted of royal defamation in July.
Thai lawyers described human rights to use the law “a form of violence against those who exercise their right to freedom of expression.”
Ghammthong of the University of Chullongcorn said that the defamation issue against Thaxin, which is based on an interview of 10 years old in which any person was critical of the rigor of Section 112, is suitable for the “way of work”.
Regardless of the way the judgment goes on Friday, analysts say that the repercussions of Thaxin and the Shinwatra family are unlikely to be known immediately, and either side can resume.
Khemthong said the issue against Thaxin may continue to go out for several months, if not a year or more.
Wanwichit agreed to Rangsit University.
“The Battle of the Court of Appeal will be possible, regardless of the ruling,” he said.
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