BANGKOK: The Criminal Court on Wednesday (July 31) denied the request of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (pic) to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Aug 1-16 to receive treatment from physicians who had previously treated him for several illnesses while he was staying in the Middle Eastern country.
The request lists Thaksin’s illnesses as chronic pneumonia, respiratory and coronary symptoms, tear in the right rotator cuff, and spinal disc herniation.
The request also included the former PM’s itinerary to meet with several important figures in the UAE on “personal missions”, adding that Thaksin would return to the kingdom before the court date on Aug 19 regarding a lese majeste case.
The court said Thaksin’s illnesses were not such that they could not be treated by physicians in Thailand, as the reason for rejecting the request, adding that the meetings with other people were not related to medical treatment.
The ex-premier, who turned 75 last week, has been charged with violating Article 112 of the Penal Code, or the royal defamation law, and computer crime, for comments he made in an interview with South Korean media in 2015.
On June 18, Thaksin was granted bail release on a bond of 500,000 baht and ordered not to leave the country without permission from the court.
Thaksin returned to the country on Aug 22 last year after 15 years in self-imposed exile following the military-led coup that ousted his caretaker government in 2006.
He was immediately taken to the Supreme Court, which sentenced him to eight years in prison in three corruption cases. The sentence was later commuted to one year by royal clemency.
Thaksin was hospitalised on his first night in prison from supposed serious illnesses. After spending six months in hospital, Thaksin was paroled and discharged in February. - The Nation/ANN
