Thaksin launches PR blitz after court issues warrant over terrorism

One day after the Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant over terrorism charges, ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra mounted a global PR blitz to claim his innocence and deny that he financed the red shirts' burning of Bangkok.

He has spoken to three international media outlets - Australia's ABC television channel, the New York Times newspaper and Canada's Globe and Mail daily.

Speaking to New York Times' Seth Mydans ("Fugitive Ex-Leader Denies Financing Thai Protests", published yesterday), Thaksin said he did not finance or organise the red-shirt movement, which ended on May 19 in one of the fiercest upheavals in modern Thai history.

"No, no, no," he said. "I was in Paris - they sent my picture - shopping at Louis Vuitton with my daughter."

He denied helping finance the red-shirt protest, saying the movement sustained itself through donations from both poor and wealthy supporters.

Thaksin also told the newspaper that he was only involved with the protest leaders, but from afar. "I am in contact with them and they ask for advice sometimes," he said, adding that violent incidents had taken place while he was on his way to attend the Cannes Film Festival.

In his interview with The Globe and Mail ("Fugitive Former Thai Leader Warns of Further Violence", also published yesterday), Thaksin refused to disclose his whereabouts. He said national reconciliation in Thailand was "still far away" now that the government has used a military crackdown to bring the two-month red-shirt rally to an end.

"The protesters, they were very angry. They were ready to die because they feel the injustice against them. They want to fight," Thaksin was quoted as saying. "Those who survived are very angry. It's not a good sign. I am very worried � I worry about the anger and I worry the government has cornered them instead of talking to them."

Thaksin also accused Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government, which he said was like a junta, of hunting down the red shirts. He added that he was ready to compromise.

"Those who survived are being hunted by the government. They are innocent people who are being hunted and detained � I'm more worried about that than myself," he told The Globe and Mail. "What I'm concerned about is reconciliation in the country. The government uses the word reconciliation, then creates more conflict."

Agence France-Press reported on Wednesday that Montenegro, where Thaksin has acquired a citizenship, has told the former leader to stop making political comments. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the former prime minister to refrain from making any comments," a Montenegrin source close to Thaksin said.

Thaksin also gave a video-link interview to Australia's ABC television channel, in which he said the terrorism charges against him were politically motivated.

"I can assure this is very, surely politically motivated case, allegation. It is not really a � it has no grounds," he said in broken sentences. "In my mind I always advocate peaceful protest and I always support my own people that we, Thailand, needs reconciliation. I'm always saying that and I always be."

The Nation