By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL was today (Sep.22) pressed to put forward the lese majeste lawsuit earlier filed against de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra in the Appellate Court after it had been lifted by the Criminal Court last month.
Members of the People’s Network for Reform in Thailand peacefully gathered at the OAG headquarters to petition the “independent” agency to proceed with its lawsuit lodged against Thaksin who is currently serving a one-year jail term at Klong Prem central prison under a separate, unprecedented case though it had been waived by the Criminal Court pertaining to allegations that he had committed a verbal offense against His late Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej pertaining to the 2006 coup which deposed him from elected premiership during an interview with a news agency in Seoul in 2015.
Thaksin, father of the court-deposed former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, made his politically-related comments during his interview in the South Korean capital about one year after his fugitive sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra had been ousted in the 2014 coup orchestrated by former army chief-turned-coup leader-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who had ironically managed to have his original, eight-year jail sentence curtailed under a royal decree to only one year to apparently tempt him into returning home from self-exile overseas in 2023.
The Criminal Court had considered that Thaksin had by no means mentioned the late monarch by name whilst commenting on the bloodless coup in his English-language interview.
However, the OAG has been given a one-month extension from today until Oct.22 to decide whether to put forward the historic case against the de facto Pheu Thai boss in the Appellate Court on grounds of violating the draconian lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, which could possibly warrant a maximum of 15 years in prison for convicted defendants.
The mega billionaire, power player has been finally sent back to jail at the order of the Supreme Court judges in charge of criminal lawsuits against persons in political positions after the last couple of years during which he had staged a thinly-veiled fakeout at Police Hospital to literally avoid being put behind bars upon his return from abroad.
In the meantime, Potjaman na Pombejra, former spouse of Thaksin’s, is more or less expected to play a pivotal role in steering the Pheu Thai, now part of the opposition bloc, since the de facto party boss is currently behind bars with the probability of being released on parole in the next four to six months, given leniency under amended regulations of the Department of Corrections, a government agency under care of the Ministry of Justice.
Potjaman will definitely not be obliged by law to become an MP or run for prime minister in a general election whilst largely expected to look after partisan contestants vying under the Pheu Thai tickets in the next race to parliament.
That Thaksin’s ex-spouse has been more or less anticipated to take the helm of the previously-ruling Pheu Thai is largely viewed as an imperative in effort to keep the Pheu Thai MPs and others among the party’s rank and file from defecting to other parties and contest the next election, which might probably take place as soon as in the upcoming March or April, under the banners of their new camps.
Potjaman’s more prominent roles in his popularity-ebbing party notwithstanding, many Pheu Thai MPs including the likes of Somsak Thepsuthin and Suriya Juangroongruangkit are more or less anticipated to depart from Thaksin’s camp to others such as the Bhumjaithai under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, the Klatham under de facto party boss Thammanat Prompao, the Palang Pracharath led by Prawit Wongsuwan and the newly-formed New Opportunity, among others. Somsak and Suriya are practically leaders of Sam Mitr faction of Pheu Thai MPs representing upper-central constituencies who will likely skip over to another camp for the next election.
The historic event in which Paetongtarn had been judged guilty by the Constitutional Court of perpetrating a disreputable conduct tantamount to an act of treason pertaining to a leaked cellphone chitchat between senior Cambodian leader Hun Sen and herself about Thai-Cambodian border conflict followed by five-day clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces along the dispute border which claimed many fatalities and injuries on both sides has drastically tarnished the Pheu Thai popularity, especially among Isaan constituents of the northeastern region and prompting many of the Pheu Thai MPs currently representing those constituencies to leave for other camps in effort to seek re-election early next year.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: The People’s Network for Reform rallying at the Office of the Attorney-General today, Sep. 22, 2025. Photos: PPTVHD 36
First insert: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Photo – Amarin TV
Second insert: Thaksin’s former spouse Potjaman na Pombejra. Photo – Naewna
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