THAILAND’S Supreme Court ordered former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra today to serve a one-year prison term for previous convictions on corruption and abuse of power charges.

The ruling came after an investigation into whether officials had mishandled his return to Thailand in 2023 to begin serving the sentences.

A judge said that Mr Thaksin’s penalty had not been properly enforced, so his detention in a police hospital did not count as part of his prison term.

Following his return to Thailand after more than a decade away, Mr Thaksin was sent to a suite at Bangkok’s Police General Hospital, reportedly for medical reasons, havig spending less than a day behind bars. 

His eight-year sentence was then commuted to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and he was released on parole after six months in the hospital.

The circumstances raised questions about whether he had received special treatment and many were suspicious as to whether he was genuinely ill.

A message on Mr Thaksin’s Facebook page, shared by his team following the ruling, said that he accepted the court’s decision.

“From today, although I’m without freedom, I still have freedom of thought for the benefit of the country and its people,” the post read.