According to reports, Thailand's former Prime minister Thaksin has been included in a list of inmates approved by prison authorities for parole, and may be released in May under electronic monitoring.
The Bangkok Post reported on the 1st, citing a source from the Thai Ministry of Justice, that the Khong Prem Central Prison Committee on the outskirts of Bangkok has approved a list of inmates eligible for parole, among which Thaksin is one of the ten included.
The source said: “The committee has completed its review and unanimously believes that these ten people all meet the criteria for parole consideration.”
It is reported that this list will now be forwarded to the Department of Corrections for further examination.
Thaksin has been serving his sentence since September last year, and will complete two-thirds of his sentence by May 10 this year, thus qualifying for a parole application.
The Department of Corrections said in March that the authorities had reviewed and approved Thaksin’s application, and it is expected he could be paroled and released on May 11.
Thaksin, 76, returned to the country last August after ending 15 years of exile abroad, and was sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and abuse of power, but was transferred to a hospital for treatment on the first day of imprisonment.
He was later granted a royal pardon by the Thai king, with his sentence reduced to one year. However, after being hospitalized for six months, he was granted parole without spending a night in prison, which sparked controversy.
In September last year, the Supreme Court of Thailand ruled that Thaksin’s hospitalization would not be counted as time served, and sentenced him to serve his one-year sentence again.