Thai Court Rules Ex-PM Thaksin Must Serve One Year In Jail
Bangkok, Thailand
A Thai court ruled on Friday that exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will serve a one-year jail term for failing to show up for a corruption trial, attorneys for both sides said. The ruling increases the likelihood that Thaksin will be tried in absentia in the case, in which he is accused of tampering with a government lottery scheme to benefit himself and his then-wife, Potjaman Shinawatra.
"The court decided to issue an arrest warrant and order him to serve one year in jail for ignoring the court's summons," said one of Thaksin's attorneys, Krisna Mahattanatawong.
Thaksin, a billionaire who has been out of the country since 2008 to avoid serving a two-year sentence on a separate corruption conviction, told reporters earlier this week that he would not attend Friday's hearing because he faced "unfair and biased" treatment by the court.
"I have complete confidence in the Thai judicial system," Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom and is also facing a new civil lawsuit in Thailand, said in a statement on Thursday. "I am not afraid of any legal case against me in Thailand. Fair trial with justice is my fundamental right."
The court set the next hearing in the lottery case for Nov. 28.
