BANGKOK, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was granted bail on Tuesday, the country's criminal court said, following a formal indictment on his charge of royal insultbingolottery.
Thaksin has been released during trial on bail of 500,000 baht (about 13,600 U.S. dollars) under the condition that he is prohibited from leaving the kingdom unless permitted, a court statement said.
According to the Thai Attorney-General, Thaksin is alleged to have defamed the monarchy during an interview with foreign media in 2015, which violated lese majeste and computer crime laws.
The 74-year-old former prime minister returned to Thailand from self-exile last year and was previously convicted of multiple charges. He was released on parole in February from a police hospital in Bangkok, where he spent six months serving a one-year prison sentence.
Thaksin served as the Southeast Asian country's prime minister from 2001 to 2006 and had been in self-exile abroad since 2008.■
