Billionaire and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been cleared of charges of violating the country’s strict law on royal insults.<\/p>\n
“The case was dismissed,” Thaksin told reporters with a smile as he left the court house.<\/p>\n
Bangkok’s criminal court said the evidence was not sufficient to show Thaksin was guilty of the charges, which stemmed from a 2015 interview.<\/p>\n
Thaksin, who had denied wrongdoing, appeared at the court with a yellow necktie \u2014 the colour associated with Thailand’s monarchy.<\/p>\n
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Thaksin Shinawatra was facing up to 15 years in jail in the royal insult case. (Reuters: Chalinee Thirasupa)<\/p>\n
He has repeatedly pledged allegiance to the king, who is enshrined in the Thai constitution as being in a position of “revered worship”, with the palace seen by royalists as sacrosanct.<\/p>\n
Thaksin’s case was the highest-profile among more than 280 prosecutions in recent years under the controversial l\u00e8se-majest\u00e9 law<\/a>, which activists say has been abused by conservatives to silence dissent and sideline political rivals.<\/p>\n Royalists say the law is necessary to protect the crown.<\/p>\n Those convicted under the law face up to 15 years in jail.<\/p>\n Thaksin was deposed in a military coup in 2006, but has remained politically active.<\/p>\n The 76-year-old tycoon\u00a0is widely seen as the power behind the ruling Pheu Thai party, which is losing popularity and hanging on by a thread over the conflict with neighbouring Cambodia and a stuttering economy.<\/p>\n