Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former prime minister of Thailand, remains one of the country's most influential and controversial figures nearly two decades after being ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was acquitted of royal defamation by a court on Friday, in a case that could have sent him to prison for up

A court in Thailand dismissed a royal insult case on Friday against influential former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, clearing the first hurdle in a series of high-stakes court rulings involving the powerful Shinawatra political dynasty.