Thaksin after his 2001 acquittal on corruption charges
In the weeks before last friday's Constitutional Court 8-7 acquittal of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of corruption charges, you could see the toll the impending verdict was taking on him. The eyes sagged. The usually smooth skin seemed more wrinkled. The smug smile would occasionally straighten, the corners of his thin-lipped mouth almost turning to a resigned frown. If he was bitter, however, he would never admit it, not to a reporter, nor to his Cabinet, and probably not to his friends. Yet the possibility his tenure would be abbreviated by a guilty ruling had become the defining attribute of...
