BANGKOK: Thai prosecutors said Wednesday former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for defaming the monarchy, three months after he was freed on parole on other charges.
Thaksin will not yet be indicted because he had filed a request to postpone his original appointment on Wednesday with proof that he has COVID-19, Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, said at a news conference.
The attorney general’s office scheduled a new appointment for Thaksin’s indictment on June 18, Prayuth said, adding that Thaksin will also be indicted for violating the Computer Crime Act.
Thaksin had been in self-imposed exile since 2008, but returned to Thailand in August last year to begin serving an eight-year sentence. He was released on parole in February from the hospital in Bangkok where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses.
On his return, he was moved almost immediately from prison to the hospital on grounds of ill health, and about a week after that King Maha Vajiralongkorn reduced his sentence to a single year. Thaksin was granted parole because of his age — he is 74 — and ill health, leaving him free for the remainder of his one-year sentence.
His return was interpreted as part of a political bargain between his Pheu Thai Party and the conservative establishment — longstanding rivals — to stop the progressive Move Forward Party from forming a government following its victory in last year’s general election.
After his return, the attorney general’s office said it had revived an investigation into whether Thaksin almost nine years ago violated the law against defaming the monarch, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Thaksin was originally charged in 2016 with violating the law for remarks he made to journalists when he was in Seoul, South Korea, a year before that, but the investigation could proceed only after he was presented with the charge in person in the hospital in January, officials said. Thaksin had denied the charges and submitted a statement defending himself.
Prosecutor’s spokesperson Prayuth said there is enough evidence for the attorney general to indict Thaksin. He said the prosecutors have already prepared their statement and documents to present to the court next month.
Since his release, Thaksin has maintained a high profile and is believed to be wielding influence in the government led by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. One analyst believes Thaksin’s growing influence has angered the ultra-conservatives and that the indictment is their response.
“It is designed to keep Thaksin under control. This is keeping him on a leash. If he doesn’t behave then this charge can be activated and could land him in jail. This is to curtail his movement and his maneuvers and to remind him, sending him a signal in a way, to know who’s in charge and to know he should not overstep the boundary,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, at professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

MANILA: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday new rules outlined by China’s coast guard that could result in the detention of foreigners in the South China Sea were an escalation and “worrisome.”

China, which has maritime sovereignty disputes with the Philippines and other claimant countries, has issued new rules effective June 15 that would enforce a 2021 coast guard law and allow detention of foreigners suspected of trespassing.

China routinely accuses vessels of trespassing in areas of the South China Sea that fall inside the exclusive economic zones of its neighbors and has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the past year.

“The new policy of threatening to detain our own citizens, that is different. That is an escalation of the situation,” Marcos told reporters while on a state visit in Brunei.

The Philippines “will use any point of contact with China to stop aggressive actions” and allow Filipino fishermen to fish in the South China Sea, Marcos said.

If aggressive actions are managed, Marcos said, “then we can go all about our business in a peaceful way.”

Marcos has taken a tougher line than his predecessor over China’s actions in the South China Sea, emboldened by support from defense ally the United States, as well as Japan and Australia.

China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beijing claims jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship-borne trade.

In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal said China’s vast claims had no basis under international law, a decision Beijing has rejected. China insists historic records and old maps make clear it has sovereignty over most of the sea and many islands there.