Thailand’s former PM Thaksin Shinawatra released from prison
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is released on parole after serving eight months of his one-year sentence at Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok, on May 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BANGKOK – Thailand’s billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released from jail on parole and met by cheering crowds on May 11, eight months after a court ordered him to do the prison time he tried to dodge with a prolonged stay in hospital.
The 76-year-old tycoon remade and dominated Thai politics for a quarter-century, but his influence has waned of late following his jailing and his once formidable Pheu Thai Party’s worst election performance on record earlier in 2026.
As he exited Bangkok’s Klong Prem prison with his hair closely cropped and wearing a loose white shirt, a smiling Thaksin hugged family members, including his daughter and protege, Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whom a court sacked as prime minister in August 2025, 10 days before his incarceration.
Hundreds of supporters, many wearing his party’s signature red, who had gathered to greet him on his release chanted: “We love Thaksin”.
When asked by a reporter about how he felt, Thaksin raised his hands above his head and said he was “relieved”. He added: “I went to hibernate. I can’t remember anything now.”
Supporters of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wait for his release on parole at Klong Prem Central Prison, in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Dramatic homecoming from exile
After 15 years in self-exile, Thaksin returned to Thailand in 2023 to face an eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power while serving as prime minister from 2001 to 2006, returning on the same day a party ally was elected to the same office by Parliament.
But without spending a single night in prison, he was transferred to the VIP wing of a hospital complaining of heart trouble and chest pains.
His sentence was later commuted to one year by the King and Thaksin stayed in hospital for six months before being paroled.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled he and his doctors had dragged out his hospital stay with minor and unnecessary surgical procedures, and that time be served again in prison.
Throughout his exile and for much of his time back home, the polarising tycoon loomed large over Thailand’s tumultuous politics and was the driving force behind successive populist governments led or controlled by the powerful Shinawatra family.
But the removal of Ms Paetongtarn, the sixth prime minister from or backed by the family to be toppled by courts or coups, was the start of a political reckoning for Thaksin, with the Pheu Thai government collapsing and ally-turned-foe Anutin Charnvirakul installed as prime minister just days before Thaksin was jailed.
‘He has to tread carefully’
Thaksin’s release could help revive his once dominant Pheu Thai, now a junior party in Mr Anutin’s coalition after a crushing electoral defeat in February, said Dr Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University.
“But he has to tread carefully,” Dr Titipol added. “He overplayed his hand. If he stays behind the scenes, it would be better. But one has to wonder how long he can stay behind the scenes considering his personality.”
Thaksin is required to wear an electronic ankle monitor until his sentence finishes in September.
Ms Rommanee Nakano, a 76-year-old supporter from northern Chiang Rai province, said Thaksin should have never received a punishment.
“He is a very good person,” she said, ahead of his release. “Whatever he did, he did it for the people. He just wanted the people to be well fed and have enough to live on.” REUTERS
