Thaksin has been granted bail as a Thai court reopens the politically charged case

The former prime minister's allegations, hearings against progressive parties, appear to be driven by rivalry with the conservative establishment.

A Thai court has granted bail to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after he was charged with insulting the royal family.

Tuesday's decision not to hold the influential billionaire in pre-trial detention is the first of a series of legal cases with the potential to have significant political implications for Thailand.

Prosecutors charged Thaksin, who is closely associated with the Pheu Thai party, which leads the ruling coalition under Thailand's lese-majeste law. They said he broke the kingdom's strict laws against insulting the royal family in comments he made in a 2015 media interview.

“Today a state prosecutor indicted Thaksin Shinawatra and the court accepted the case,” the attorney general's office said in a statement.

Thaksin, who denied all charges, was granted bail on a 500,000 baht ($13,580) bond and ordered not to leave the country without permission, court officials said. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for August 19.

Thaksin, 74, was twice elected prime minister before being ousted in a 2006 military coup. He returned to Thailand last August after 15 years in self-imposed exile, when Pheu Thai took power.

competition

The case against Thaksin is seen as inherently political because of his closeness to the ruling party.

Thai politics is dominated by rivalries between the conservative military-pro-royalist elite and progressive parties such as Pheu Thai and the opposition Move Forward Party (MFP). The rift has previously triggered violent street protests, disbanding of political parties, airport closures and military coups that have crippled the Thai economy.

The institution has been accused of increasing use of lese-majeste laws to target opponents.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday set July 3 for a hearing against the MFP, which was brought by the country's electoral commission to promote the law reform. The party wants to dissolve the case.

The party, which won last year's election but was blocked from forming a government by conservative politicians, dropped calls for reforms after the Constitutional Court ruled in January that the claim amounted to an attempt to overthrow the monarchy.

The MFP's predecessor, the Future Forward Party, was dissolved by court ruling after a strong performance in the 2019 elections.

July 10 was also fixed for the hearing against Prime Minister Sretha Thavisin.

The real estate tycoon, who entered politics last year with the Pheu Thai party, faces possible dismissal after a group of 40 conservative military-appointed senators complained about the appointment of a lawyer jailed for contempt of court to his cabinet.

upper hand

Analysts advise, charge and give hands on judgments.

“The Les-Majeste case will hang over Thaksin while the prime minister and the verdict going forward is still a long way off, giving the conservative establishment more time to come up with ways to counter their perceived threat,” Ttipol Phakdewanich, a political science professor at Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani University, told Reuters.

However, the Constitutional Court also ruled on Tuesday that the election process for a new upper house, which began earlier this month, was legal, clearing the way for 200 new politicians to take over from the military-appointed Senate later this year.