Bangkok, Feb 21 (EFE).- Cambodia’s former strongman Hun Sen on Wednesday visited convicted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in his Bangkok home following his release on parole.
Ahead of his arrival at Don Mueang airport, Hun Sen posted photos of himself in sunglasses on his private jet, and arrived later in the morning at Thaksin’s private residence in the capital’s riverside Bang Phlat district in a Mercedes Benz to a crowd of waiting reporters.
Thaksin, twice prime minister and ousted in a 2006 military coup, lived in exile for 15 years until his return to Thailand last August when he began an eight-year jail term for conflict of interest, malfeasance and abuse of power. Days later the sentence was commuted to one year by the king.
The 74-year-old, however, did not spent a single night in jail as he was immediately transferred to hospital for undisclosed health issues, where he reportedly stayed until his release on parole at the weekend, granted due to his age, undisclosed medical condition and time served.
Thaksin and Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia with an iron fist for nearly four decades until handing the reins to his son Hun Manet last August, are longtime allies.
The former Thai leader and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, also a former elected prime minister ousted by the 2014 military coup, were photographed at Hun Sen’s 72nd birthday party at his residence in Phnom Penh last August while both were living in self-exile.
Hun Sen later Wednesday posted photos on Facebook showing him sitting next to Thaksin, who was still wearing a neck brace and right arm in a sling, during their meeting, which was also attended by the former Thai leader’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the ruling coalition’s main Pheu Thai Party.
Thaksin dramatically returned to Thailand from exile last year on the same day Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was elected, and concerns have been widely voiced about his potential influence behind the scenes of the new government going forward.
Hun Sen said he had met Thaksin as “brothers” and that they had discussed their 32-year friendship, not politics. He also said he had also invited Paetongtarn to visit Phnom Penh on Mar. 14-15.
The visit took place as another of Hun Sen’s sons was elected deputy prime minister by parliament in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Civil service minister Hun Many was promoted by all 120 members of the National Assembly, according to local media.
The Bangkok visit of Cambodia’s former strongman, who still wields significant political influence in government and behind the scenes, raised fears of further incidents of transnational repression following his son Hun Manet’s visit to Bangkok to meet with his counterpart Srettha on Feb. 7.
Days earlier, authorities had arrested three Cambodian activists and their families living in Thailand and who were recognized as refugees by the United Nations, sparking fears they would be sent back to Cambodia after a series of deportations of Phnom Penh critics from Thailand in recent years. Authorities eventually said they would be resettled in a third country.
During the visit, Hun Manet reportedly thanked Srettha for preventing “interference in Cambodian internal politics.”
On Wednesday, Sitanan Satsaksit, the sister of missing Thai dissident Wanchalerm Satsaksit, was prevented by plainclothed police from going to Thaksin’s residence carrying pictures of her brother and to ask about his whereabouts, which police said was for ‘security reasons,’ according to the Cross Cultural Foundation on X.
Wanchalerm was abducted by armed assailants outside his home in Phnom Penh in 2020 and has not been seen or heard from since. He is presumed to be a victim of enforced disappearance and neither country has made progress on the case. EFE
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