Former MP and media personality Jakrapob Penkair, who has been in self-imposed exile since 2009, has declared on his Facebook page that he will return to Thailand tomorrow.
There are three arrest warrants waiting for him. “On Thursday March 28, 2024, at 7:35am, Jakrapob Penkair will return to serve Thailand,” he wrote.
He was a Thai foreign ministry official, before resigning due to conflicts with his superiors.
He began his political career by serving as a government spokesman in the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in 2003, later becoming a minister in the PM’s Office in the Samak Sundaravej cabinet.
He was charged with lèse majesté for a speech he gave at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok in August 2007, but the charge was dropped.
He was one of the core “red-shirt” leaders.
After the coup in 2006 and the “Songkran riots” in 2009, he went into hiding, claiming that his life was at risk.
