Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been ordered to serve a year in jail, in the latest blow to the powerful family that has dominated the country’s politics for the past 25 years.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a six-month spell in detention in a police hospital did not count towards a previous sentence, meaning the 76-year-old telecoms magnate will have to return to prison.
Thaksin had been sentenced to eight years in prison in 2008 on charges of graft and abuse of power related to his time as prime minister from 2001-2006, and sentenced to eight years in prison. He denied the charges, and was tried and convicted in absentia.