Deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will return to Thailand from 17 months of exile abroad on Thursday to fight corruption charges, a pro-Thaksin website and one of his lawyers said.
The website, www.hi-thaksin.net, posted a picture on Tuesday of the deposed Prime Minister with his right hand raised giving the victory sign, along with his son and a crowd of supporters, superimposed over an image of Bangkok’s international airport. It urged supporters to greet Thaksin at the airport at 9am on Thursday. “Welcome home Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom we love, miss and have been waiting to return for over a year,” the website said in Thai.
The chief of Thaksin’s legal defence team, Pichit Chuenban, confirmed Thaksin is “poised to return”.