National—
At 11:00 AM, on December 14th, 2023, Mr. Chaichana Dejdecho, a Democrat MP, publicly revealed his conclusion after a police committee meeting on Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister, who has received extensive medical treatment at a police hospital versus being imprisoned on his current jail sentence.
Chaichana stated to the Thai national media that the committee had questioned the detainment process under the Thai Department of Corrections authority before transferring Thaksin to the police hospital.
Furthermore, the discussions in question were about the budget used during the treatment and the reason why Thaksin was being transferred to the prison using a non-official prisoner transport vehicle.
According to the regulations of the Department of Corrections, on the first day, the prisoner must be quarantined in a specific territory. Despite the regulations, Thaksin was transferred to the police hospital at night right after landing in Thailand on the same day.
Chaichana stated that the acting Director of Corrections explained that the correction doctors did not medically agree to send Thaksin to the police hospital, it was just an informal discussion between the doctors that night but was allegedly urgent for undisclosed health reasons of Thaksin’s.
The Department of Corrections must send the prisoner to a host hospital under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Health, the police hospital is under the Royal Thai Police jurisdiction, said Chaichana.
The correction officials could not state the reason why Thaksin needed not to shave his head and had the privilege to receive medical treatment on the 14th floor of the police hospital whereas other sick prisoners could not access the same treatment, remarked Chaichana.
After the new year, Chaichana and his team would perform an investigation to determine whether Thaksin received medical treatment at the police hospital or not. Thai society cannot advance if there is inequality and double standards, said Chaichana.
Thai society also questioned Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on the new proposed regulations from the Department of Corrections regarding the segregation of detention. Specifically, in the case of any prisoner who is not at risk, could be accommodated in other places such as private residences and other locations. The said prisoner must first serve 1/3 of the sentence received, said Chaichana.
Thai officials have denied the proposed regulations for low-risk prisoners serving prison sentences at home were designed with Thaksin in mind.
