Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was cleared Friday of royal defamation charges, relieving one of the threats to his embattled dynasty, which has dominated Thai politics for two decades.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was acquitted of royal defamation by a court on Friday, in a case that could have sent him to prison for up

Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former prime minister of Thailand, remains one of the country's most influential and controversial figures nearly two decades after being ousted in a 2006 military coup.