New home-detention option for convicts not crafted for Thaksin: Wissanu

Critics of Thaksin wrongly linked the directive, which was published in the Royal Gazette on Wednesday, with the former prime minister’s recent pledges to return to Thailand, Wissanu said.

Moreover, the timing of the directive’s announcement had nothing to do the election victory of the Move Forward Party and its key ally, the Pheu Thai Party, Wissanu added.

“They were not related. This directive should have been published in the Royal Gazette two or three months earlier,” Wissanu said.

The new directive of the Corrections Department was published in the Royal Gazette on Wednesday under the title “Regulations of the Corrections Department on how to treat detainees”.

Thaksin, who has been living in exile for 17 years, has frequently said he will return to Thailand, including ahead of the May 14 election.

On Wednesday, his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, told reporters that Thaksin wanted to return home next month and is ready to face justice.

This led to speculation that the new directive was designed so that Thaksin could be detained at home instead of in a prison.

Wissanu explained that the new directive could be applied to repeat offenders and that it faced several obstacles before it was completed.

The deputy director-general of the Corrections Department and two law lecturers supported Wissanu’s explanation.

Sitthi Suthiwong, deputy chief of the Corrections Department, said the new directive was enacted under the Repeat Criminal Offenses Prevention Act, which became law this year.

It aims to prevent repeat offenders, particularly those who commit violent or sexual crimes, from continuing to commit crimes by allowing law enforcement to monitor and detain them after they have been released from prison.

The directive aims to protect society from violent repeat offenders, Sitthi said.

Komsan Phokong, deputy dean of Rangsit University’s Faculty of Law, said the new directive did not apply to Thaksin’s convictions.

Thaksin was sentenced to prison on corruption cases, while the new directive is aimed at detaining repeat offenders who commit violent crimes.

Patana Ruanjaidee, an associate professor at Ramkamhaeng University’s Faculty of Law, agreed that the directive was not related to Thaksin.

The former prime minister was sentenced in absentia by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office to a total of 12 years in prison on four separate corruption convictions.

If Thaksin wants to seek a royal pardon, he has to serve one-third of his jail term first, Wissanu said.

Local media reported that Paetongtarn’s statements on Wednesday sparked a meeting of members of the Shinawatra family and most agreed that Thaksin should not return to Thailand at this time.