Thailand’s Thaksin indicted for insulting monarchy

Due to remarks he made over ten years ago, powerful former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was formally charged by Thai authorities on Tuesday under the severe royal insult statutes of the kingdom.

One of four cases that are pending in court against the 74-year-old billionaire—who was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 after being elected premier twice—could lead to new political unrest in the coup-prone kingdom.

Due to an interview he gave to South Korean media in 2015, Thaksin, the patriarch of the Pheu Thai party, which controls the coalition government, is being charged of lese-majeste.

“Today a state prosecutor indicted Thaksin Shinawatra and the court accepted the case,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family are protected by some of the harshest royal defamation laws in the world, which carry a potential 15-year prison sentence for each offense.

Critics claim that following youth-led anti-government street protests in 2020 and 2021, the laws have been applied more frequently to suppress lawful political discourse.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal organization that handles several cases, states that among the more than 270 people accused under the legislation since the uprisings, Thaksin is the most well-known name.

The Constitutional Court is still deliberating on three other matters that could lead to a political crisis on the same day that Thaksin’s case is heard.

In response to the selection of a cabinet minister who has a criminal record, one petitions for the resignation of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin under ethical guidelines.

In a different one, the primary opposition Move Forward Party (MFP), which took the majority of seats in the previous general election but was unable to form a government, is being asked to be dissolved by the electoral commission.

Tuesday’s decision in those cases is not anticipated from the court; instead, it is scheduled to address the legality of the current senate election in a third case.

The present senators, who were chosen by the previous junta, would stay in office in the event that the court decided to postpone or even cancel the election.