Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra released on parole from police hospital

Formerly exiled billionaire freed six months into eight-year sentence due to age and health

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been freed on parole and returned home, six months after he was arrested on his dramatic return to the kingdom from 15 years of self-imposed exile.

The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, was jailed for eight years on graft and abuse-of-power charges after he arrived in Thailand in August.