A court in Thailand has dismissed a high-profile case against the country’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra over allegations he violated the country’s strict laws on royal defamation, the billionaire and his lawyer said.
“The case was dismissed,” Thaksin, 76, told reporters with a smile as he left the court following the verdict on Friday.
“The court dismissed the charges against Thaksin, ruling that the evidence presented was insufficient,” his lawyer Winyat Chatmontree said.
The criminal court in Bangkok later confirmed it had dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence.
Outside the court, Thaksin’s supporters erupted in cheers after hearing the verdict. Many wore red shirts, the campaign colour of the political party founded by Thaksin.
“The court has done its job properly, but I don’t think we can relax yet,” said 66-year-old food vendor Kamol Orahanta, who was among some 150 supporters gathered outside the court.
“I believe there are still some haters who will try to topple him by other means,” Kamol told the AFP news agency.
In an interview with reporters, Thailand’s interim Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai welcomed the court’s decision but said it will have no political impact, as it was an independent judicial process.
Phumtham said his ruling Pheu Thai Party, which was founded by Thaksin, continues to have “high morale” despite the legal hurdles faced by the Shinawatra family.
While the court dismissal on Friday will be a relief for Thaksin, the Shinawatra family’s political dynasty remains on the ropes, with Thaksin’s daughter and Thailand’s current Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, facing her own legal reckoning next week with a court decision due that may see her thrown out of office.
Paetongtarn, 39, was suspended as prime minister and faces the prospect of dismissal from her position by the constitutional court for an alleged violation of ethics over a telephone conversation with Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen, which was leaked by the former Cambodian premier to embarrass the Thai leader.
Thaksin also faces another key legal test in September, when the Supreme Court will decide whether his six-month stint in hospital detention prior to his release on parole in 2024 – over abuse of power and conflict of interest charges while in office – should count as time served in jail.
If the case goes against him, Thaksin could potentially be made to serve the time again in prison.
The defamation case, which was dismissed on Friday, had alleged that Thaksin violated Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law during a 2015 interview with foreign media when he commented on a 2014 military coup that overthrew his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, as prime minister.
Thaksin had always denied wrongdoing and repeatedly pledged allegiance to the king, who is enshrined in the Thai constitution as being in a position of “revered worship”, with the palace viewing support for the monarchy as sacrosanct.
Thaksin’s case was the highest-profile among more than 280 prosecutions in recent years under the controversial lese-majeste laws, which activists say have been abused by conservatives to silence dissent and sideline political rivals.
Thailand’s royalists say such laws are necessary to protect the crown.
Though retired from formal politics, Thaksin remains a major force in Thai public life even after spending 15 years in self-imposed exile before his return to the country in 2023.
