Former Thai Prime Minister Cleared of Insulting Thailand’s Former King

King Bhumibol—who was the world’s longest reigning monarch—died in 2016 at age 88.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (C) leaves the court after being acquitted of royal defamation at the Criminal Court in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug. 22, 2025. Sakchai Lalit/AP

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was acquitted of defaming the country’s former king in an interview in 2015, by a court in Bangkok on Friday.

Shinawatra, 76, and his aides wore yellow ties—a color associated with the former king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, and the monarchy in general—at the hearing at the Bangkok Criminal Court, and afterward, he left without responding to questions from journalists.

Shinawatra’s lawyer, Winyat Chatmontree, confirmed he had been acquitted, as did the Bangkok Criminal Court later in a news release.

King Bhumibol—who was the world’s longest reigning monarch—died in 2016, aged 88, a year after the interview Shinawatra gave with a television station in South Korea.

Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn—the third member of his family to be prime minister—was suspended by Thailand’s highest court on July 1, after 36 senators filed a petition seeking her removal over a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

Shinawatra, a telecom billionaire, first came to power in 2001 after his Thai Rak Thai Party won elections, garnering significant support from the poorer north and northeast of Thailand.

He led Thailand until he was ousted by a military coup in 2006. He then went into exile.

After the military restored democracy in 2011, his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was elected Thailand’s first female prime minister.

She was removed by a Constitutional Court ruling in May 2014, and a few weeks later, another military coup suspended the democratic process.

Democracy was restored in 2019, and in August 2024, Paetongtarn Shinawatra became prime minister at the head of a coalition, more than a year after a general election in which Pheu Thai came second.

Thailand has strict lèse-majesté laws that protect the monarchy from insult or criticism, and offenders can be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.

Thai PBS World, a publicly funded broadcaster in Thailand, said the court gave Thaksin Shinawatra the benefit of the doubt, and said the video clip provided as evidence suggested his comments were not specifically directed at the king.

The broadcaster said Thaksin Shinawatra had criticized the Privy Council, the military, and “people in the palace” but did not insult the monarch himself.

Witnesses Suspected of Political Bias

The court’s news release said the evidence presented by the prosecution was incomplete and lacked context, and also said witnesses in the case may have been motivated by political bias, because they had participated in political protests against him.

The interview took place a year after Thaksin Shinawatra’s sister was ousted by the military in a coup, and he was charged in absentia in 2016.

Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand, after years of self-imposed exile, in August 2023 and was immediately imprisoned, but later released to a hospital after the prison authorities reported he had high blood pressure and low oxygen levels.

He has been on bail for the past two years.

Thaksin Shinawatra (L) with his daughter Prime Paetongtarn Shinawatra (R) arrive before a royal endorsement ceremony appointing her as Thailand's new prime minister, in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug. 18, 2024. Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo

His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra is still awaiting the outcome of a final decision following her suspension from the role of prime minister.

Next week, the Constitutional Court is due to rule on whether she should lose her prime ministerial position for breaching ethics laws.

On June 15, Paetongtarn spoke with Hun Sen—whose son Hun Manet is the current Cambodian prime minister—after a Cambodian soldier was killed on May 28 in a brief exchange of gunfire with Thai troops at a disputed border area between the two countries.

During the phone call, Paetongtarn Shinawatra criticized a Thai army commander and referred to Hun Sen as “uncle.”

Hun Sen leaked the phone call on Facebook, and Paetongtarn Shinawatra later apologized for what she said but rejected calls for her to resign or dissolve parliament.

A fresh round of fighting along the Thailand–Cambodia border began on July 24, but an immediate cease-fire was agreed four days later by Hun Manet and Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, after the intervention of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.