Thailand’s former PM Thaksin Shinawatra has been jailed upon returning to the country after 15 years in exile.
But many believe he has struck a deal that will keep him from serving more than a short period in prison.
Shinawatra on Tuesday morning in a private jet, ahead of a vote for the next Thai leader – the frontrunner is from Mr Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party.
He has sentences of up to eight years outstanding from criminal cases he says were politically motivated.
Mr Thaksin, Thailand’s most successful elected leader, has long been feared by conservative royalists, who have backed military coups and contentious court cases to weaken him.
But now the brash, politically-ambitious telecoms tycoon is back – he landed in Bangkok’s main airport to cheers from hundreds of loyal supporters who had gathered overnight to see him. Flanked by his two daughters and son, he emerged briefly from the airport terminal and paid his respects to a portrait of the king and queen.
He was immediately taken to the Supreme Court where he was sentenced to eight years on the outstanding charges, and then to Bangkok Remand Prison. The department of corrections has said that he “is safe under the supervision of the staff”.
Outside the Don Mueang Airport, 63-year-old Samniang Kongpolparn had been waiting since Monday evening to see Mr Thaksin. She, like many of the other supporters, had travelled from Surin province in the northeast, the stronghold of Mr Thaksin’s party in past decades.
“He’s the best prime minister we’ve ever had. Even though I won’t get to see him today, I still wanted to come to show him support,” she said. “I’m ok with them reconciling with the pro-military government, or else we’re stuck with the senators. We don’t want that.”
Mr Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party is expected later today to join a coalition government – a byzantine process which in three months has taken Thailand full circle.
It began with the heady hopes of a new dawn led by the radical young Move Forward party, which won the most seats in the May election.
Move Forward initially formed a partnership with Pheu Thai but it’s now certain that the coalition will include almost everyone but the reformers, including two parties led by former coup-makers – a deal with its sworn enemies that Pheu Thai vowed it would not do.
Pheu Thai insists the two developments are unconnected. Few people believe that.
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