Thailand’s top court ordered the influential former prime minister and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra to prison for one year on Tuesday in a dramatic turn of events for the embattled political titan.

Thaksin, 76, a towering and divisive figure, served as prime minister from 2001 until he was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He made a dramatic return to Thailand in 2023 after 15 years in self-imposed exile, and was sentenced to eight years in prison for conflict of interest, abuse of power and corruption during his time in power.