Thai ex-PM Thaksin visits hometown for first time since 2006 ouster

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived by private jet on Thursday to visit his northern hometown of Chiang Mai for the first time since fleeing the country after a military coup in 2006.
The influential billionaire has loomed large over Thai politics for two decades, during which his family-backed Pheu Thai party has won nearly every general election and is now in power.
In August he made a dramatic return from 15 years of self-imposed exile to dodge jail for alleged abuse of power.
After just six months in a prison hospital, Thaksin received parole in February despite not having spent a single night in jail for a sentence commuted by the king to one year from eight.
Thaksin, wearing a mask and a neck brace, was flanked by his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, agriculture minister Thammanat Prompao and dozens of officials on his arrival for a three-day visit, but he did not speak to media.