Thailand's ex-PM Thaksin to face trial for royal defamation amid conservative backlash against his influence

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's divisive two-time former prime minister, will be indicted for royal defamation over media comments made nearly a decade ago, a potential sign of a conservative backlash against a government dominated by his loyalists.

The 74-year-old billionaire, the nation's most influential politician over the last two decades, faces the kingdom's tough lese-majeste law, which shields the powerful monarchy from criticism, over an allegation that he defamed the monarchy in an interview with South Korean media in 2015 while in self-exile.

He also faces a separate charge under a law for criminal computer crimes, according to the attorney-general's office.

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Thaksin did not appear before the court on Wednesday after his lawyers asked for a postponement, saying he had contracted Covid-19.

"The Attorney-General has decided to indict Thaksin Shinawatra on all charges, and Thaksin must appear before the court on June 18," Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesman for the office, told reporters.

Thaksin's indictment comes just days after the Constitutional Court agreed to hear a case against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, after he appointed Thaksin's former lawyer Pichit Chuenban to a cabinet post, despite the acolyte having been jailed for six months for attempted bribery.

That case, which could see Srettha removed from office, was widely read as a rap on the knuckles by the conservative establishment aimed at Thaksin, whose Pheu Thai party leads the government.

Thaksin's lawyer Winyat Chatmontree said his client would fight the charges.

"He is ready to prove his innocence in the justice system," he told reporters.

The royal defamation law, which carries up to 15 years in jail per conviction, has been wielded against over 250 pro-democracy activists in recent years. The cases include two concluded this week against a serving lawmaker and a musician, both of whom were jailed for breaching the law.

Thaksin's indictment is another twist in the protracted political saga of the former cop turned telecoms tycoon, who returned to Thailand from self-exile last year.

He received a sentence reduction for graft convictions earlier meted against him when he was prime minister and was swiftly paroled without spending a night in jail.

The apparent deal to rehabilitate Thaksin saw Pheu Thai abandon its pro-democracy alliance with the popular, reformist Move Forward Party and forge a coalition with former conservative rivals.

But that pact appears to be fraying less than a year into Srettha's government.

"What is happening now shows us that the conservative side and Pheu Thai's relationship is stressed and strained," Pannika Wanich, a pro-democracy leader and a figurehead of Move Forward, told reporters.

"So they are using the court as a political tool to show that they still have influence."

Enmity among conservative hardliners is unremitting against Thaksin's apparent enduring political influence and has intensified following his return.

Thaksin's indictment "shows that we live by the rule of law where no one is above the law, for that I'd like to praise the Attorney-General for committed to his duty," Prapan Koonmee, a conservative senator, told PPTV news channel on Wednesday.

Officially, Thaksin has no political role but since his release on parole last year he has taken an increasingly public profile, meeting politicians across the country to blanket media coverage.

Thaksin's daughter Paethongtarn is Pheu Thai Party's leader and is widely seen as the future of the Shinawatra political clan, which includes his younger sister and former prime minister Yingluck.

Yingluck was toppled in a 2014 coup led by General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha, an arch-royalist whose supporters said they were determined to uproot the Shinawatras' influence from Thai politics.

Thaksin held the Thai electorate spellbound after his 2001 election landslide victory. He was widely credited with quickly getting the country back on track after the 1997 'tom yum goong' crisis punctured its economy.

He built a loyal vote bank which lasted for 20 years, with his pro-poor policies including universal healthcare, college scholarships for rural students, and village funds to disperse state capital to the widely ignored hinterlands where most Thais live.

They returned him to office in 2005 - the first civilian prime minister to complete a term.

But a 2006 coup booted Thaksin out of office and he fled in 2008 after legal charges were levelled against him, returning only last year under an apparent deal.

Yet his spell over the Thai public appears to be waning.

Instead, it is the more radical and youth-facing Move Forward Party, which carries the hopes of a public tired of the military's deep involvement in politics, political chaos, and soaring inequality.

Move Forward won the most parliamentary seats and votes in last May's general election. But the party was blocked by the military-appointed Senate from leading the government and was shunted into opposition after Pheu Thai left their pro-democracy bloc.

Move Forward potentially faces dissolution at a hearing before the Constitutional Court within weeks for attempting to reform the royal defamation law.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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