Thaksin Shinawatra, the convicted former prime minister of Thailand, has been freed from detention after spending six months in a police hospital.
It means the 74-year-old billionaire, who led the country from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted in a military coup, is enjoying his first day of freedom in Thailand for 15 years.
The former Manchester City owner, who was freed on parole on Sunday, has spent most of that time in self-imposed exile to escape jail.
He did not spend a single night in prison after complaining of health problems, reportedly chest tightness and high blood pressure and found out he was to be freed on Tuesday.
Pictures were published showing him – wearing a neck brace and a mask – while being driven away from the central Bangkok hospital beside his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the family’s ruling Pheu Thai party.
The former telecoms magnate left in a convoy of tinted-windowed vehicles that was chased by media that had gathered overnight, arriving at his Bangkok home 25 minutes later.
Shinawatra, Thailand’s most successful elected leader, left the country in 2008 after being deposed by a coup two years earlier. He spent his exile years mostly in London or Dubai.
