Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra quietly reported to the Criminal Court on Thursday regarding his lese-majeste case.
According to a source, the 75-year-old billionaire arrived without prior notice and was at the court on Ratchadaphisek Road for about 10 minutes.
Following his release on bail of 500,000 baht, the court ordered Thaksin to report monthly. He did not seek permission to leave Thailand during this visit, having had a previous request to go abroad denied in July.
The case stems from comments Thaksin made in a 2015 interview with the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, where he alleged that privy councillors supported the coup that removed his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, from power. The interview was posted online, so he was also charged with computer crime in addition to lese majeste under Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for July next year.
Thaksin returned to the country on Aug 22 last year after 15 years in self-imposed exile. On that day, he was taken to the Supreme Court, which sentenced him to eight years in prison in three cases. That sentence was later reduced to one year by royal clemency.
On his first night at Bangkok Remand Prison, doctors determined he should be transferred to the Police General Hospital because he was suffering from chest pain, hypertension and low blood oxygen levels.
Thaksin was legally permitted to receive treatment outside prison within a 120-day window until Dec 22, but the Department of Corrections allowed him to continue his hospital stay after that.
Thaksin was paroled and discharged from the hospital on Feb 18.
The former telecommunications tycoon formally completed his one-year prison term on Aug 31 this year.
