Thai prosecutors say former Prime Minister Thaksin is being investigated for royal defamation

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — State prosecutors in Thailand say they have revived an investigation into whether former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra violated the law against defaming the monarch, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General said Tuesday that Thaksin had been charged in 2016 for remarks he made to journalists when he was in Seoul, South Korea, a year earlier. Thaksin, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup, is currently confined to a police hospital in Bangkok where he is serving time for convictions related to corruption and abuse of power. He had been in self-imposed exile since 2008, but voluntarily returned to Thailand last year to begin serving an eight-year prison sentence. However, he could be freed on parole later this month.