By Thai Newsroom Reporters
IT WILL BE UNLIKELY FOR de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole Thaksin Shinawatra to be held in custody by the authorities on lese majeste charges, said a partisan source today (Feb.18).
In case that the Office of the Attorney-General may proceed with a lese majeste lawsuit in the Criminal Court against Thaksin, it will be very unlikely for the authorities to hold him in custody following his release on parole today, the partisan source said.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole may ultimately dismiss the charges pertaining to the lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, and fight the legal battle in court without being held in custody.
Remarkably, the Office of the Attorney-General is not legally obliged to either proceed with the lawsuit in court against the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole or simply lift the case which carries a 15-year litigation period, the partisan source said.
Nevertheless, if found guilty by the Criminal Court as formally accused in the lese majeste case, the highly privileged Thaksin could appeal it to the Appeals Court and if the Criminal Court’s verdict may be endorsed by the Appeals Court, he could finally fight in the Supreme Court as provided by law.
Without an EM ankle bracelet, the “untouchable” Thaksin who can go places throughout the country, albeit prohibited by law to leave it, had been earlier accused of violating the draconian Section 112 by making verbal statements allegedly tantamount to lese majeste content during an interview with a news agency in South Korea to mark the first anniversary of the 2014 coup orchestrated by army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to depose his sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Wearing soft splints around his neck and right arm, the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole today departed Police Hospital where he has stayed for secrecy-shrouded “illnesses” for about six months, equivalent to half of his curtailed, one-year sentence served on a contentious privilege basis in a tight-security, private ward at the hospital in lieu of Bangkok Remand Prison for a few counts of misconduct perpetrated during his previous premiership.
Accompanied by his daughters, namely Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Pintongta Kunakornwong, the straight-faced Thaksin quietly returned in a van to his Chan Song Lah residence on the Thonburi side of Bangkok.
The politically powerful de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole has allegedly managed to keep himself from being literally put behind bars for a single day since he returned from self-exile abroad to formally face the non-existent jail sentence last August.
CAPTIONS:
De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra returning home early this morning (Feb. 18) with his daughter, party leader, Paetongtarn Shinwatra, seated next to him. Top photo: Reuters/Arthit Perawongmetha, Front Page photo: AFP/Jack Taylor and published by Matichon
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