Thailand's billionaire Shinawatra family is bracing for a series of high-stakes court decisions starting Friday that could test its political resilience, with the prospect of an early election and prolonged trouble for the country's stuttering economy.

Suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at the Constitutional Court to testify in a high-profile ethics case, following a leaked phone conversation between her and Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen, in Bangkok, Thailand, August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been acquitted of a royal defamation charge by a court in a case that could have sent him to prison for up to 15 years.