A Bangkok Criminal Court on Friday acquitted former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of royal defamation, lifting the most serious of several legal threats confronting the influential Shinawatra family. Thaksin, 76, and his attorney said the court dismissed the lese-majeste charge, though a written judgement had yet to be released. Prosecutors had sought up to 15 years in prison over remarks Thaksin made in a 2015 interview with South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, in which he suggested palace insiders supported the 2014 coup that unseated his sister Yingluck Shinawatra. Thaksin returned from self-imposed exile in 2023 and was indicted last year, posting 500,000 baht ($13,000) bail and surrendering his passport as a condition of release. The ruling removes one flashpoint as Thailand’s political landscape heads into a period of intensified judicial scrutiny. Next week the Constitutional Court is due to decide whether Thaksin’s daughter, suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, should be removed from office over an ethics complaint tied to leaked comments on a border dispute with Cambodia. Although retired from formal politics, the telecoms tycoon is widely viewed as the guiding force behind the governing Pheu Thai Party. His acquittal averts an immediate confrontation with royalist and military elites while the coalition grapples with sluggish economic growth and speculation about an early general election.