By Thai Newsroom Reporters
AN EM ANKLE BRACELET will definitely not be put on the “untouchable” de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict Thaksin Shinawatra during his parole, according to a senior government official.
Corrections Department director-general Sahakarn Petchanarin confirmed today (Feb.14) Thaksin may go around anywhere in the country without an EM ankle bracelet during his parole, expected to begin on the upcoming Sunday or Monday, after he has roughly served half of his one-year “sentence” at Police Hospital in lieu of Bangkok Remand Prison.
Being over 70 years old and having “critical illnesses” the symptoms and details of which remain a mystery to the public, Thaksin will be literally free of any EM shackles, according to the department chief.
During parole, Thaksin can go on air for an interview at a news agency or travel anywhere within the country but cannot leave the country, according to the department chief.
A senior official of the Probation Department will pay him a visit somewhere as part of the parole procedures, Sahakarn said. The de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict will likely return to his Chan Song Lah residence on the Thonburi side of the capital.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney-General may either go ahead with judicial proceedings over a yet-unfinished, separate criminal lawsuit earlier filed against the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict for alleged violation of the lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, or simply lift it.
The lese majeste case against the politically powerful Thaksin could practically be proceeded to court during his parole over a few convicted cases of misconduct in office for which he had been earlier sentenced in absentia to an eight-year jail term which was curtailed by royal pardon to only one year.
The “untouchable, privileged” Thaksin, who has never spent a single day behind bars and been instead provided a tight-security private ward at Police Hospital, had been earlier accused of making verbal statements allegedly tantamount to lese majeste content during an interview with a news agency in South Korea on a date in 2015 which marked the first anniversary of the coup orchestrated by army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to oust his sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Yingluck who has followed suit of her brother staying in self-exile overseas since the 2014 coup is believed to look for ways and means to return home sooner or later during the time of real estate mogul-turned-Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin whom she had quietly pushed to rise to power following last year’s election.
Whilst Thaksin has apparently enjoyed the excuses of being 70-plus years old and a “critically sick” person to serve his court-ordered sentence outside of a prison, Yingluck would not fall in such categories for leniency.
CAPTION:
De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra arriving in Thailand last August, above, and a file photo of him, Front Page. Top photo: Thai Rath, Front Page photo: Matichon
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