BANGKOK — Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose 21st-century political odyssey sharply divided Thai society for decades, was released from a Bangkok prison on Monday after serving eight months of a one-year sentence for a corruption-related charge.
A crowd of about 300 supporters and political allies gathered outside the Klong Prem Central Prison to greet the 76-year-old billionaire populist.
Thaksin was a telecommunications magnate who founded his own political party in 1998 and served as prime minister from 2001 until a military coup ousted him in 2006 while he was abroad. His ouster set off nearly two decades of deep and sometimes violent political polarization, while his political machine staged several comebacks even as Thaksin himself stayed in self-imposed exile to escape what he said was political persecution through the courts.
His three children, including former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, and other family members also arrived early to welcome him.
Thaksin emerged from the prison gate in a white polo shirt and blue pants and was embraced by his family. He smiled brightly as he walked around to greet his supporters, who chanted “we love Thaksin” and gave him red roses. He then left without speaking to reporters.
He arrived at his residence in western Bangkok about an hour later. In a video streamed by Thairath News, Thaksin was seen rolling down the car window to greet a small group of supporters waiting at his home, responding to reporters’ shouted questions that “I was in hibernation, I can’t remember anything now.”
Thaksin was the first elected prime minister in Thai history to serve a full four-year term. Policies such as a national health care scheme and projects to build roads in less developed parts of the country drew devoted support from the poorer segments of society, particularly in the rural north and northeast, but his popularity and sometimes high-handed style created deep fractures between his base and the country’s urban elites, royalists and military.
He was charged with abuse of power over allegations including using his position to benefit his own business interests and illegally approving a state lottery project that caused losses to the government.
Thaksin was convicted in absentia but returned to Thailand to be sentenced in 2023 as the Pheu Thai Party, his most recent political vehicle, formed a government. He was widely believed to have reached a secret accommodation with the traditional royalist establishment. He was originally sentenced to eight years in prison, but it was commuted to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, which he was granted permission to serve from a suite in Bangkok’s Police Hospital on medical grounds.
After protests that he had received unwarranted special treatment, the Supreme Court in September ordered Thaksin to serve his sentence in prison.
A Justice Ministry panel agreed last month to grant him parole as part of a review of more than 900 eligible prisoners’ cases, citing his good behavior in prison, his age and the low risk that he would repeat his offense.
After his release, Thaksin will be on probation for four months, during which he must reside at his declared home in Bangkok, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, and report regularly to probation officials.
Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn became the country’s youngest prime minister in 2024 but was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in August after a recording was released of a compromising phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.
The Pheu Thai party managed only a third-place finish in this year’s general election.
