San Francisco Frontiers - Thaksin termination? Prison term latest chapter in political odyssey

But that success came at a cost: he and his family were despised by Thailand's powerful elites and a conservative establishment who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.

On Tuesday the 76-year-old was finally ordered to serve one year in prison, the culmination of a tortuous legal saga that may have dealt a crippling blow to his dynasty's hold over Thai politics.

It is the latest turbulent chapter that has seen his political fortunes rise and fall over the past two decades.

Elected prime minister in 2001 and again in 2005, Thaksin was ousted by the army in 2006 and took himself into exile two years later, but never stopped commenting on national affairs -- or meddling in them, according to his critics.

He pledged repeatedly to return, despite being convicted on graft and abuse-of-power charges in his absence.

Thaksin finally made good on his vow on August 22, 2023, touching down in Bangkok to a hero's welcome from his supporters on the day his Pheu Thai party returned to office.

He was immediately arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail, but was whisked to a police hospital within hours on health grounds.

Within days, King Maha Vajiralongkorn cut his term to one year, and Thaksin returned to his Bangkok home in February 2024, having seemingly not seen the inside of a jail cell.

But the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that he had not properly served his sentence, and ordered him behind bars for a year.

- Telecoms fortune -

Thaksin was born on July 26, 1949, into one of the most prominent ethnic Chinese families in northern Chiang Mai province.

He worked as a police officer before amassing a vast fortune founding a series of data networking and mobile telephone firms that would become telecoms giant Shin Corp.

He launched his political party, Thai Rak Thai, in 1998, and became the first premier to serve a full term after being elected in 2001.

With the economy in a deep recession during the Asian financial crisis, Thaksin -- one of Thailand's richest people -- promised to use his business savvy to lift rural villagers out of poverty.

His "war on drugs", which Human Rights Watch says resulted in around 2,800 extrajudicial killings, brought international condemnation.

He was re-elected in a landslide victory in 2005, thanks to huge support from rural voters grateful for cash injections and debt relief.

The following year he was dogged by corruption allegations and mired in controversy over the tax-free sale of Shin Corp shares.

Months of mass protests culminated in the nullifying of elections, and in September 2006 army tanks rolled into Bangkok and toppled Thaksin's government while he was at the United Nations in New York.

Despite his Thai assets being frozen in 2007, he purchased the Manchester City football club and later sold it for a sizeable profit to an Abu Dhabi-backed group.

- Family business -

Thai Rak Thai was dissolved by court order after the 2006 coup, but eventually evolved into the Pheu Thai party, which brought Thaksin's sister Yingluck to the premiership in 2011.

Thaksin is seen by many as the true master of Pheu Thai, which came second in the 2023 general election and led the governing coalition until days ago.

From exile in Dubai, divorced Thaksin regularly took to the Clubhouse social media platform under the moniker "Tony Woodsome" to address supporters in Thailand.

His decision to return came after Pheu Thai made what many saw as a Faustian bargain to go into coalition with military-backed parties -- including the ex-army chief who ousted Yingluck in 2014.

Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn, who took up the mantle of his Pheu Thai party, became prime minister last year, but was dismissed by the Constitutional Court two weeks ago over her handling of a border row with Cambodia.

Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai party took office as the new prime minister at the weekend, condemning Pheu Thai to opposition.

He has promised to call elections within four months, when Thaksin's party will seek to bring its supporters out once more, but its star is waning.

After walking from the courthouse Tuesday with her head bowed, Paetongtarn insisted that her father remained a "spiritual leader".

She was proud that he had "created so much history for Thailand", she said. "Today is another historic moment."

J.Martinez--SFF