I don't know how I managed to miss this but someone was talking about it the other day and it was one of those "whaaaaaaaa?" moments for me. Since I don't really follow the news I hadn't heard that this happened. There also might be the case of this information being suppressed because Thailand doesn't really have a free press although they claim that they do.
For those who live outside of Thailand perhaps the name Thaksin Shinawatra doesn't mean anything to you but he is a hero to many and a devil to others. It kind of reminds me of Trump and how much these two have in common. There are a very loyal group of supporters who are about half of the country and there are a group of people that absolutely hate the guy for reasons that I don't really understand. He was seen by many as being a politician for the people and this was especially true for the poorer people of the country particularly in the North-East area of Thailand that is called Isaan, where he has and had near complete support.
While he was in New York on some sort of political visit, the military overthrew the government entirely and declared his position illegitimate and later warrants for his arrest were made. He was an extremely wealthy businessman before he ever got into politics so rather than return to Thailand he remained in self-imposed exile for many years. It was only in August of this year the he returned after spending much of his time in Dubai as well as other countries that were more than happy to give him political asylum.
His arrival was no secret, he made it very clear and public that he would be landing in a private jet at the airport and he was immediately arrested by a large group of people without any incident. There was no need for cuffs or rough-housing. After all these years the man was basically turning himself in because he wanted to return to his home. Or so he says...
The Supreme Court of Thailand made the decision that he would spend a total of 8 years in prison for "abuse of power" offences. The law works very differently here than it does in other parts of the world in that courts often make these decisions unilaterally, I've never heard of any sort of jury trial existing in Thailand, although I could be wrong about this. Also, it is extremely common for the King of Thailand to demand the reduction of sentences to thousands of inmates on his birthday every year and pardons are also something the King can do. This is not an official thing as the King of Thailand doesn't have any sort of genuine political power. However, the Thai people and the government have an extreme level of reverence for the monarchy and they have never defied the will of the Royal Family even though technically they are allowed to do precisely that.
It has been rumored that Thaksin will receive a pardon from the Royals, although there is no official word of this.
Also, the timing of his return is no coincidence. The party that is closely related to his own when he was in power now holds the majority position in Parliament, and therefore a pardon or reduction of sentence could be accomplished in this manner as well.
The main reasons for the arrest and conviction of Thaksin is because while he was in power he took a very hardline approach to the drug war and this included swift imprisonment and even raids that resulted in thousands of deaths. He also took a very firm approach to the south-eastern portion of the country called Yala and the surrounding areas, which is primarily Muslim and has been seeking to secede from Thailand for quite some time. Rather than tolerate this notion as others had done in the past, Thaksin sent the army down there and meted out swift and often violent control of the area. It might not have been pretty, but both of these things were actually quite effective.
This is what we need to look at here. This man has more than enough resources to simply never face the justice that some people believes he needs to face for the purported human rights violations during his time in power. He never needed to return and could have lived a life of luxury in a number of different countries that were more than happy to keep him safe there until the end of his life.
So why did he return at all? He knew he would be arrested and jailed, so why did he come back?
I believe that he knows that he is going to be treated to VIP status as far as prison time is concerned and even then I think he already has a deal in place that is going to secure his release. Furthermore, there are still many who consider him a hero of the common man, and his ability to influence politics is still very much alive. This is why I consider him to be a bit of a Thailand Trump. The people who supported him absolutely adored him, and he very well could be back here now in order to encourage a political shift away from military leaders, who have always been at ends with the Pheu Thai party that he comes from.
I think there is far more to this situation than simply coming to "face justice." I believe that this man has a plan, not necessarily to re-introduce himself to politics, but to be on the sidelines pulling the strings of them, which if effective, is probably a much safer position to be in than the one in office seeing as how coup d'états are kind of a national sport here in Thailand.