Thai Supreme Court Orders Thaksin to Serve One-Year Prison Term After VIP Hospital Stay Declared Invalid

Thailand’s Supreme Court has ruled that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must serve the full one-year prison sentence originally commuted by royal pardon, after concluding that his six-month hospital detention did not count as lawful imprisonment.


The court deemed that his hospital stay, supposedly for serious health reasons upon his 2023 return from exile, was unnecessary and constituted an attempt to avoid actual jail time.


The court found that Thaksin’s condition could have been managed by prison medical staff and that both he and his doctors acted to prolong his stay in a private hospital suite rather than serve his sentence in a standard facility.


Less than an hour after the ruling on 9 September 2025, he was escorted to Bangkok Remand Prison to begin his sentence.


At 76, Thaksin has accepted the decision, stating: “I may no longer have freedom, but I still retain freedom of thought to benefit the country,” while his daughter, former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed pride in his enduring spirit.


This marks a significant blow to the once-dominant Shinawatra dynasty, whose influence has already abated following the recent ousting of Paetongtarn from office. Therefore, signalling a further shift in Thailand’s volatile political landscape.

Share to: