Thailand politics

The charges follow an incident over the weekend in which monarchy reform activists and ultra-royalists engaged in a public brawl in Bangkok.

The detained former PM's persecution and rehabilitation have both reflected the use of the country's administrative and legal system for political ends.

The announcement brings an end to a two-decade war between Thaksin Shinawatra and the country's conservative establishment.

Thaksin Shinawatra's name is on a list of 930 elderly inmates, who have been approved for parole due to ill health.

The pair were charged as "accomplices" to an incident last March in which an activist spray-painted an anti-royalist message inside Bangkok's Grand Palace.

Thaksin Shinawatra has been informed about a lese-majeste complaint claiming that he insulted the monarchy in a 2015 interview in South Korea.

The petition was filed a day after the Constitutional Court ordered the Move Forward Party to stop advocating the reform of Thailand's harsh lese-majeste law.

Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the Move Forward Party, can rejoin Parliament – but more legal challenges loom.

Arnon Nampa, a prominent leader of the mass protests of late 2020, faces 14 charges under the country's draconian lese-majeste law.

Amid claims of preferential treatment, the Department of Corrections says that its refusal to refer to Thaksin Shinawatra as an "inmate" is standard practice.

The former leader has been in hospital since returning from self-exile and beginning a prison term for abuse of power in August.

Rukchanok Srinork's Move Forward Party has campaigned hard for the repeal of Article 112 of the Thai penal code, which criminalizes criticism of the monarchy.