Abroad

Ex-Thai PM Thaksin may be released from jail after 8 months, originally sentenced to 8 years

He began serving his current one-year sentence in September 2025.

Xueting Wu

April 01, 2026, 04:25 PM

Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is eligible for release from prison on parole in May.

The Thai Ministry of Justice confirmed on Mar. 31 that his name was among 10 in the shortlist of inmates eligible for the next parole round, the Bangkok Post reported.

Convicted on charges of abuse of authority and conflict of interest, Thaksin was originally sentenced to eight years in prison.

This was later reduced to one year by Thailand's king.

Health problems, good behaviour

Thaksin returned to Thailand in August 2023 after 15 years of self-imposed exile.

He'd spent only hours in prison before he was hospitalised with health problems.

After the court ruled that his time in hospital detention did not count as serving his sentence, he was transferred to Central Klong Prem Prison to serve the full year on Sep. 9, 2025.

He has so far served six months in custody.

Eligible due to good behaviour

In January 2026, the Justice Ministry's Department of Corrections said that Thaksin met the criteria for parole consideration as he was a well-behaved inmate.

Under Thai law, Thaksin must complete two-thirds of his sentence to qualify for parole.

This translates to eight months in jail.

His daughter, former Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, said Thaksin would meet the criteria on May 10 and could be released on May 11, according to Nation Thailand.

She added that if released, her father would likely step away from politics.

No bracelet

The shortlist will next be submitted to the Department of Corrections for further review, which will likely take two months.

Final approval will then rest with the permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry.

Upon release, Thaksin would be placed under probation for four months until the end of his sentence.

He would not be required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet due to the short length of his sentence, said a Corrections Department spokesperson according to Nation Thailand.