Thai tycoon Thaksin tastes freedom in homeland, 15 years after fleeing

Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sits next to his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as they leave a police hospital after being granted parole, in Bangkok, Thailand, February 18, 2024. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole on Sunday after six months in detention, his first day of freedom in his homeland 15 years after fleeing in the wake of his overthrow in a military coup.

Thailand's best-known and most polarising premier, the influential Thaksin has loomed large over politics during the years spent mostly in self-imposed exile to dodge jail for abuse of power, charges he maintained were cooked up by the country's old guard to keep him at bay.