Thaksin eligible to apply for parole in May

Jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will become entitled to apply for parole after serving two-thirds of his one-year prison term, which falls in May, the Corrections Department said today.

The department insists that this parole is not a privilege exclusive to Thaksin, but is open to all prisoners if they meet the legal requirements and their applications for the suspension of the remaining term of their imprisonment is approved by a subcommittee.

The subcommittee is headed by the permanent secretary of justice and is comprised of representatives from several state agencies, among them the departments of Corrections, Probation, Rights and Liberty Protection, Special Investigation, the Ministry

of Public Health, the Judicial Office and the Office of Attorney-General.

The Corrections Department says that the former prime minister was sent to Klong Prem Central Prison on September 9th last year, to serve a one-year prison sentence on three corruption convictions, which had been reduced from eight years by Royal commutation.

Upon his return to Thailand in late 2024, after having lived in self-imposed exile for more than a decade, he attempted to avoid spending time in prison by pretending to be critically ill on his first day there and, with the help of some prison officials and medical personnel, he was admitted to the Police General Hospital.

He spent six months in the facility before being discharged.

On September 9 last year, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders ruled that Thaksin’s six-month stay at the hospital did not count towards time served and ordered him to return to prison to complete his one-year sentence.