The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office is due to deliver a ruling on Wednesday, in response to a petition by former Democrat MP Charnchai Issarasena Na Ayudhya for an enquiry into the Corrections Department’s handling the imprisonment of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Chanchai claims that the department’s decision to allow Thaksin to receive medical treatment at the Police General Hospital for six months, without spending a day in prison, was a violation of the Criminal Procedure Code.
He is demanding that the court order Thaksin to be returned to prison to serve his one-year term.
Thaksin was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office. The term was reduced to one year by a Royal commutation, but he spent six months in the Police General Hospital and was released on parole in February last year, due to his advancing years.
This is the third time that Charnchai has tried to persuade the Supreme Court to overturn the Corrections Department’s decision to keep Thaksin out of a cell and have him sent back to prison.
On February 15 last year, the Supreme Court dismissed Charnchai’s petition, on the grounds that Thaksin’s case concluded when the court issued an order for his imprisonment.
The enforcement of the court’s order and the decision to allow Thaksin to receive medical treatment outside prison were within the authority of the Corrections Department, according to the court’s ruling.
The court also ruled that it is beyond its jurisdiction to rule on whether the Corrections Department’s handling of Thaksin’s imprisonment was legal.
