Thai ex-PM Thaksin returns home from police hospital

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived back at his Bangkok home from police hospital early on Sunday, just six months after he was arrested following a dramatic return to the kingdom from 15 years of self-imposed exile.
The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, was jailed for eight years on graft and abuse-of-power charges upon his return in August.
But his sentence was cut to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn within days of his return and the government said last week the 74-year-old was eligible for early release because of his age and health.
Thaksin — wearing a neck brace and sitting next to his daughters Paetongtarn and Pintongta — was driven away Sunday from the police hospital in central Bangkok where he had spent the past half year.
A handful of people protesting against his release had gathered in front of the hospital.
The car then drove to Thaksin’s home, where a welcome-home banner was tied across the gates.
One woman wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Thaksin emblazoned across the front said she had stood outside his house for two days.
“I want to tell him to fight,” she told local media. “If he is (here), the country will develop.”
The exact details of his release are not clear but Thaksin may be subject to monitoring — possibly with an ankle tag — and restrictions on his right to travel.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin suggested Sunday that Thaksin would not involve himself in politics but said, if and when he is ready to give advice, “everyone in the government is ready to listen”.
The former Manchester City owner’s arrival in Thailand came on the same day his Pheu Thai party returned to government in alliance with pro-military parties, leading many to conclude that a backroom deal had been struck to cut his jail time.
The rumours grew stronger when he was transferred to a police hospital within hours of being sentenced because of his poor health.
He was reportedly suffering from chest tightness and high blood pressure when he was admitted to hospital and his family has said he underwent two operations in the following months.
The government has denied any deal and Srettha, of the Pheu Thai party, has insisted “he already served his jail time” — although it is not clear that Thaksin has spent any time in a prison cell.
Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party (MFP), which won most seats at the last election but was stopped from forming a government, said Thaksin’s release raised questions about whether he had received special treatment.
“Thailand needs a democratic system where the rule of law and justice system is applied in the same way for everyone, without double standards… for privileged people,” the party said in a statement Sunday.
Power struggle
The former telecoms tycoon is one of the most influential but divisive figures in modern Thai history.
Thaksin is loved by millions of rural Thais for his populist policies in the early 2000s but has long been opposed by the country’s royalist and pro-military establishment.
The tussle for dominance between the establishment and Thaksin and his allies has largely defined Thai politics over the past two decades.
Police laid lese-majeste charges against Thaksin last week over comments he made in South Korea almost a decade ago, although it is not clear whether prosecutors will take the case to court.