Back in 2008, the last time Thaksin Shinawatra stepped foot in Thailand, he was adored among the nation’s poorer masses and widely despised by the royalist elite who had backed his removal in a coup two years earlier.
On Tuesday, the former prime minister returned to Thailand after his political allies cut a deal with the same military-backed establishment that spent years overturning his party’s election victories through coups and court decisions. He bowed before a portrait of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and then waved to hundreds of supporters at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, with some chanting "We Love Thaksin!” and "Thaksin, Keep Fighting!”
Thaksin, who faced three guilty sentences for corruption cases handed down in absentia, was ordered by the Supreme Court on Tuesday to serve a total of eight years in jail. He was taken to the Bangkok remand prison, local television station Thai PBS reported.