Convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is indeed staying in the Police General Hospital and is eligible for parole, justice authorities said on Wednesday.
Somboon Muangklum, adviser to the justice minister, told a press conference at the Justice Ministry that many parties were trying to verify whether Thaksin is really ill and in a ward at the hospital.
He said a representative of the ombudsman had already visited the Police General Hospital and met Thaksin on the 14th floor of the Maha Bhumibol Rachanusorn 88 Phansa Building, which is in the hospital compound.
Mr Somboon said he also believed that Thaksin remained in the hospital and was not staying in an apartment, as some people suspected.
Sitthi Sutivong, deputy director-general of the Department of Corrections, was also at the media briefing. He told reporters Thaksin was eligible for parole because he was old and ill.
However, the relevant regulation required that the prison governor must seek parole for inmates, who did not have the right to do so themselves, Mr Sitthi said. Normally, this was done on a monthly basis.
Mr Sitthi said the governor of Bangkok Remand Prison, where Thaksin was admitted on Aug 22 last year, had not requested parole for Thaksin.
Thaksin, 74, returned to the country on Aug 22 after 15 years of self-exile and entered the justice system. He had been convicted and later sentenced in absentia for corruption and abuse of authority while in office prior to the military coup that ousted him in 2006.
On arrival on Aug 22, 2023, Thaksin was detained and taken to the Supreme Court, and was the same day sentenced to eight years in prison, later reduced to one year by royal clemency.
That same night, the former premier was taken from Bangkok Remand Prison, where he had been jailed, to Police General Hospital for "health reasons". He has reportedly undergone surgery and been there ever since.
A senator earlier anticipated Thaksin's release next month.
