{"id":39662,"date":"2024-05-29T13:26:38","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T13:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=39662"},"modified":"2024-05-29T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T13:29:14","slug":"thailand-set-to-indict-former-pm-thaksin-over-royal-insult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=39662","title":{"rendered":"Thailand set to indict former PM Thaksin over royal insult"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reuters:   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BANGKOK, May 29  &#8211; Thailand&#8217;s attorney-general will indict former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for allegedly insulting the monarchy, an official said on Wednesday, in a setback to a political heavyweight whose loyalists are currently in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The complaint, lodged by the royalist military that ousted the government of his sister,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/thai-supreme-court-clears-ex-pm-yingluck-negligence-case-local-media-2024-03-04\/\">Yingluck Shinawatra<\/a>, had stemmed from an interview the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/thailands-polarising-ex-pm-thaksin-shinawatra-2024-02-18\/\">influential tycoon<\/a>&nbsp;gave to foreign media in 2015. Other charges include violating a computer crime law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The attorney-general has decided to indict Thaksin on all charges,&#8221; spokesperson Prayuth Bejraguna said, adding he must appear in court on June 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/home-free-thai-tycoon-thaksin-unlikely-retire-quietly-2024-02-19\/\">Thaksin<\/a>, 74, denies wrongdoing and has repeatedly pledged loyalty to the crown, criticism of which is forbidden under Thailand&#8217;s lese-majeste law, one of the world&#8217;s strictest of its kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thaksin would be the highest-profile case among more than 270 prosecutions in recent years under the controversial law, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years for each perceived insult of the royal family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thaksin did not appear at Wednesday&#8217;s hearing, having been infected with COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His lawyer, Winyat Chartmontri, said a comprehensive defence had been prepared and Thaksin would seek bail. He questioned the authenticity of the video of the interview in which the alleged insult was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Thaksin Shinawatra is ready to prove his innocence in the justice system,&#8221; Winyat told a press conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reuters: BANGKOK, May 29 &#8211; Thailand&#8217;s attorney-general will indict former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for allegedly insulting the monarchy, an official said on Wednesday, in a setback to a political heavyweight whose loyalists are currently in government. The complaint, lodged by the royalist military that ousted the government of his sister,&nbsp;Yingluck Shinawatra, had stemmed from an interview the&nbsp;influential tycoon&nbsp;gave to foreign media in 2015. Other charges include violating a computer crime law. &#8220;The attorney-general has decided to indict Thaksin on all charges,&#8221; spokesperson Prayuth Bejraguna said, adding he must appear in court on June 18. Thaksin, 74, denies wrongdoing and&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39664,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39662\/revisions\/39664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}