Former Thai PM Thaksin released on parole

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole after serving most of his one-year sentence. Authorities imposed strict probation conditions, including electronic monitoring and travel restrictions, while the influential politician still faces a separate royal defamation appeal case in Thailand

Bangkok: Thailand’s convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released from Bangkok’s Klong Prem Central Prison on Monday after being allowed to complete the remaining four months of his one-year sentence on parole.

Thaksin made a public appearance at around 7:40 a.m. local time, reuniting with family members in front of the prison, where he had served two-thirds of his sentence required by standard parole criteria, Xinhua news agency reported. He and his family paid tribute to the Thai flag, expressed gratitude to the supporters, and then left by car at around 7:55 a.m. local time.

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As he departed to report to a Bangkok probation office, crowds of supporters wearing red shirts greeted the former prime minister as they gathered outside the prison compound under tight police security.

According to the Department of Corrections, Thaksin was among over 850 inmates granted early release at a parole committee meeting last month, citing his age of over 70 and the fact that he had less than a year of jail time left to justify the eligibility. The department has said that he must comply with strict probation conditions, including wearing an electronic monitoring device, accepting parole supervision, reporting to the regulatory authorities on time, and not leaving the country until his one-year sentence formally concludes on September 9.

The Parole Committee under the Ministry of Justice of Thailand held a meeting on April 29 and decided to allow Thaksin to be released on parole on May 11.

Thaksin, now 76 years old, served twice as prime minister of the Southeast Asian nation, winning elections in 2001 and 2005. A military coup in 2006 cut short his second term, and he went into self-imposed exile in 2008. Upon returning to Thailand in August 2023, he was taken into custody to serve eight years of imprisonment on three charges stemming from his time in office.

After serving less than a day behind bars, he was transferred from a Bangkok prison facility to a police hospital, citing critical health concerns. His sentence was subsequently commuted to one year following a royal pardon request.

Thaksin returned to prison on Sept. 9, 2025, after the Supreme Court ruled that his six-month hospital detention was unlawfully allowed and did not count toward time served. The former prime minister remains embroiled in a separate royal defamation case after the attorney general filed an appeal against a lower court’s decision to acquit him over remarks he made in a 2015 interview with foreign media.