Thaksin attends ‘last’ prosecutor witness hearing in Article 112 case

Thaksin attends the final state witness hearing in his Article 112 defamation case, with defence confident in disproving allegations.

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attended the public prosecutor's witness hearing on Thursday, which was scheduled to be the final state witness hearing in the Article 112 case against him, his laywer said.

Thaksin, accused of defaming the monarchy in an interview with South Korean media in 2015, arrived at the Criminal Court in the same blue Rolls-Royce he used to attend a state witness hearing on Wednesday.

His brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, also attended the hearing to provide moral support.

Speaking to reporters before attending the hearing, Thaksin’s lawyer, Winyat Chartmontree, said the public prosecutor in charge of the case was scheduled to present accounts from three state witnesses on Thursday.

Winyat said he believed the three state witnesses could finish testifying by Thursday; otherwise, the prosecutor would ask the court for another witness hearing.

Winyat also mentioned that he had prepared several defence witnesses to testify in an attempt to disprove the information presented by the prosecutors.

 

The lawyer stated that the case was politically motivated, with Thaksin being a victim who had not been treated fairly by the government agencies in charge of the case from the beginning.

As a result, the defence was not concerned about the case, and Winyat was confident the defence could disprove the allegations.

(2025/07/03-00:00)