Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was taken to prison Tuesday shortly after arriving in Bangkok, ending a 15-year self-imposed exile.
Thaksin was greeted by hundreds of supporters at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport before he was taken by police to the Supreme Court, which ordered him to serve an eight-year prison sentence based on previous convictions on corruption charges.
His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted pictures on social media of her father posing with his three children and seven grandchildren after his arrival, accompanied by a message that her father has returned “and has entered the legal process.”
Thaksin’s arrival and imprisonment occurred hours before parliament was to vote to choose a new prime minister. The country has been at a political standstill since the progressive Move Forward Party and its coalition partners scored an upset victory in May’s parliamentary elections. But party leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to get the necessary votes to win the post due to strong opposition in the conservative, military-backed Senate.
The Pheu Thai party, the latest to emerge from Thaksin’s political movement, has nominated real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin for the post.
Pheu Thai came in second place in May’s elections, but has formed an alliance with military and pro-royalist lawmakers, which has angered many of its longtime supporters.
The 74-year-old media tycoon was first elected prime minister in 2001 and gained a loyal following among Thailand’s rural poor for such policies as universal health care and cash payments to farmers. But he was overthrown in a coup in 2006 by a military aligned with members of Thailand’s pro-monarchy elite who saw him as a threat to their longstanding grip on social order.
He was tried and convicted in absentia on the charges, which he says were politically motivated.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.