Metropolis Desk-
According to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, jailed former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra will be released from medical custody on Sunday.
The 74-year-old billionaire political heavyweight Thaksin, who served as prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006 and made a stunning return home after a 15-year global self-exile in order to escape going to jail for a conflict of interest, has been detained since August.
After his release, the King reduced his eight-year prison sentence to one year, and he spent six months in a hospital owing to an unspecified medical problem.
Although Thaksin was given parole earlier this week, it remained unclear when he would be released until now. His first day of eligibility for parole is this Sunday.
Prime Minister Srettha said reporters on Saturday, “It will be on the 18th,” but he did not disclose any specifics. He also stated that “everything would be in accordance to the law.”
Thaksin may still have legal issues even after being granted parole since public prosecutors may file charges against him for disparaging the monarchy in a 2015 interview.
The fact that Thaksin’s return occurred the same day that political outsider and ally Srettha was selected as prime minister last year fueled rumors that Thaksin and his formidable rivals in Thailand’s royalist-military establishment were working together on a covert agreement.
That has been rejected by the government and Thaksin’s supporters, the Pheu Thai Party, which is supported by Shinawatra.
Source- Reuters
