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BANGKOK: Thailand’s billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been granted a royal pardon that has reduced his parole by two weeks, his lawyer said on Saturday (Aug 17), a day after he was sentenced to life imprisonment. His daughter was elected Prime Minister By Parliament.
“Thaksin is among the prisoners who received a royal pardon” to celebrate the king’s birthday last month, his lawyer Winyat Chartmontri told Reuters. “The pardon will take effect on Sunday.”
Granted parole in Februarywhich was originally scheduled to end at the end of the month, but was shortened to Sunday as part of a royal pardon, Winyatt said.
For two decades, Thaksin has been at the center of a power struggle between the Shinawatra family and its allies on one side and an alliance of royalists, generals and old money families that have long wielded influence over Thailand’s government and institutions on the other.
Thaksin went into self-imposed exile to avoid jail after a military coup overthrew him in 2006, making a dramatic return home last August. He then served six months in hospital for health reasons before being released on parole in February.
Upon his return, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for abuse of power and conflict of interest during his tenure from 2001 to 2006. Last September, King Maha Vajiralongkorn commuted his sentence to one year.
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