Thailand's political path is shadowed by the ongoing dramas of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra

BANGKOK -- BANGKOK (AP) — Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former prime minister of Thailand, remains one of the country’s most influential and controversial figures nearly two decades after being ousted in a 2006 military coup. His political journey, marked by unprecedented popularity, a dramatic fall from power, years in self-imposed exile and a high-profile return, continues to shape Thailand’s political landscape.

His dramatic path took another turn on Friday, defying expectations when a court that has historically leaned against him and his political machine acquitted him of royal defamation, an offense that could have sent him to prison for up to 15 years.

Despite powerful enemies in the Thai establishment and criminal convictions for corruption, he avoided prison by going into exile after his ouster. His return home in August 2023 had seemed to signal an accommodation with his opponents.

However, his insistence on maintaining a high public profile — he was seen as the real power directing the government, especially when his daughter, Paetongtarn, became prime minister last year — kept old enmities alive and embroiled him in fresh legal challenges from those wishing to curb his influence.

The Shinawatra family is prominent in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where Thaksin was born to a mercantile family in 1949. After a career in public service as a police colonel, Thaksin became a business entrepreneur in the late 1970s. He built a telecommunications empire starting with Advanced Info Systems, an early mobile phone service provider and the primary source of his fortune.

He entered politics in 1994, holding Cabinet posts before establishing the Thai Rak Thai Party in 1998. Using his fortune to build a nationwide political machine, he promoted populist policies that resonated with lower-income citizens, especially in the countryside.

His platform promised to spread economic growth and bridge the wealth gap, with signature policies including universal healthcare and village development funds. This led to landslide victories for his party in 2001 and 2005, making him the first elected Thai prime minister to complete a four-year term and the country’s longest-serving democratically elected leader.

However, Thaksin’s massive popularity and electoral support rocked Thailand’s established political order. This earned him powerful enemies among conservative forces, including the army and the courts, which saw him as a threat to the monarchy, the bedrock of Thai identity, as well as to their own influence.

He also faced criticism for his imperious CEO-style governance, intolerance of criticism, especially from the media, and failure to distance his business interests from government policy. His administration was also blamed for setting off a persistent Muslim insurgency in Thailand's southern provinces and for what human rights advocates said were more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs.

His second term was cut short by a military coup in 2006 while he was abroad. Opponents accused him of corruption, abuse of power, and disrespecting then-King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and hounded him with legal cases that he characterized as politically motivated.

Thaksin’s ouster triggered nearly two decades of deep political polarization, pitting his supporters against opponents including better-off urban dwellers, ardent royalists and the military. He briefly returned in 2008 to face charges but skipped bail and fled abroad again, commencing a self-imposed exile lasting over a decade.

Despite his physical absence, Thaksin remained a beloved and influential figure among his followers, whom he encouraged remotely. Parties formed from the ashes of his Thai Rak Thai Party and still under his influence consistently won elections but just as consistently were driven from office by legal challenges in courts hostile to him and destabilizing street protests.

His supporters, the “Red Shirts,” engaged in militant street actions, countering “Yellow Shirt” royalists, with both sides responsible for street violence.

His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, continued the family’s legacy, leading the Pheu Thai Party to victory in 2011 and becoming Thailand’s first female prime minister. Her government’s proposed amnesty for Thaksin triggered protests, leading to another military coup in 2014 — and driving Yingluck into exile as well.

While in exile, Thaksin, who had his Thai passport revoked, obtained another from Montenegro through investment and spent significant time in Dubai. He also purchased and sold Manchester City Football Club and invested in mining in Africa.

Thaksin’s return became possible after the progressive Move Forward Party’s victory in 2023 rattled the establishment that had so abhorred him. This led to what many called a “self-serving deal” between Thaksin and his former conservative foes, a move that alienated many supporters even as it returned Pheu Thai to power while keeping Move Forward out of government.

His dramatic return to Bangkok in August 2023 occurred on the same day Pheu Thai formed a new coalition government, after royalist Senators refused to endorse Move Forward's mandate from the voters.

Upon his return, Thaksin was sentenced to an eight-year prison term for corruption but was immediately transferred to a fancy hospital suite due to ill health, a diagnosis regarded with skepticism by many. His sentence was reduced to a single year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and he was released on parole in February 2024 after six months.

Critics questioned his illness, viewing his abbreviated stay as a “special privilege.” A court next month will rule on whether his serving time in a hospital rather than prison was the result of a fraudulent medical diagnosis, which could result in him being imprisoned.

After his release from hospital, Thaksin has maintained a high public profile, traveling around the country and offering political observations. He is widely considered the de facto leader of Pheu Thai and the power behind its government.

His indictment for royal defamation — an offense also known as lèse-majesté — stemmed from 2015 remarks he made in an interview while in exile. The controversial law, punishable by three to 15 years in prison, is often criticized for being applied for political purposes, with its targets often activists known for being outspoken.

Even without a conviction, or during the appeals process, the threat of it is used as a tool to keep dissidents in check, but Thaksin beat the odds on Friday with his acquittal.