Thaksin Shinawatra, the convicted former prime minister of Thailand, has been freed from detention after spending six months in a police hospital.
It means the 74-year-old billionaire, who led the country from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted in a military coup, is enjoying his first day of freedom in Thailand for 15 years.
The former Manchester City owner, who was freed on parole on Sunday, has spent most of that time in self-imposed exile to escape jail.
He did not spend a single night in prison after complaining of health problems, reportedly chest tightness and high blood pressure and found out he was to be freed on Tuesday.
Pictures were published showing him – wearing a neck brace and a mask – while being driven away from the central Bangkok hospital beside his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the family’s ruling Pheu Thai party.
The former telecoms magnate left in a convoy of tinted-windowed vehicles that was chased by media that had gathered overnight, arriving at his Bangkok home 25 minutes later.
Shinawatra, Thailand’s most successful elected leader, left the country in 2008 after being deposed by a coup two years earlier. He spent his exile years mostly in London or Dubai.
In his absence, he was convicted of corruption and abuse of power, charges he said were cooked up by the Thai establishment to keep him at bay.
In August, his family’s Pheu Thai party, which has won five of Thailand’s last six elections, took power again, in alliance with pro-military parties.
Thaksin Shinawatra was pictured wearing a neck brace and mask. Pic: AP
He returned to the country the same day and was immediately sentenced to eight years by Thailand’s Supreme Court for three convictions passed in his absence, a term commuted to one year by Thailand’s king, Maha Vajiralongkornjust, a few days later.
Thaksin, one of the most divisive public figures in the country, is loathed by many of Bangkok’s rich elite, but adored by millions of poor rural Thais for his populist policies.
His opponents are believed to have backed military coups and contentious court cases to weaken him.
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He was the first prime minister in Thailand’s history to lead an elected government through a full term in office in 2001-06.
After being ousted, he purchased Manchester City in 2007 for £81.6m, before selling the club to investors from Abu Dhabi United Group the next year.
In 2014, his sister Yingluck Shinawatra was deposed as prime minister by another military coup.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin suggested that Thaksin would not involve himself in politics but said, if and when he is ready to give advice, “everyone in the government is ready to listen”.
Pichai Naripthapan, a government adviser and former energy minister said in a post on X: “Congratulations to PM Thaksin… I hope he will have good health and much happiness and warmth from his beloved family.”
