Fugitive Thaksin banned from Germany
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Thailand's globe-trotting, fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra is no longer welcome in Germany and will be arrested if he returns there, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday.
Chavanont Intarakomalyasut, a ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday that the German Embassy in Bangkok notified the Foreign Ministry about the ban in an official letter.
Germany placed Mr. Thaksin on a "national exemption" list in December that barred him from entering the country, said Mr. Chavanont.
Despite being on a German blacklist, Thaksin entered the country on Dec. 29 using a French-issued Schengen visa, which allows a person to travel in the European Union on a single visa.
Germany placed Mr. Thaksin on a "national exemption" list in December that barred him from entering the country, said Mr. Chavanont.
Despite being on a German blacklist, Thaksin entered the country on Dec. 29 using a French-issued Schengen visa, which allows a person to travel in the European Union on a single visa.
Thaksin then acquired a residence permit from authorities in Bonn using the address of his lawyer in Germany. Federal officials only learned about it in April and ordered it revoked.
"We asked Bonn to revoke the permit and they responded immediately and revoked the permit," Hanns Schumacher, Germany's ambassador to Thailand.
"We asked Bonn to revoke the permit and they responded immediately and revoked the permit," Hanns Schumacher, Germany's ambassador to Thailand.
"We informed the lawyer that the permit was revoked and should Mr. Thaksin still be in Germany, his stay would be illegal and he would face detention," Schumacher said.
The ban strikes another country off the map for Mr. Thaksin, who continues to roam the globe with a variety of passports eluding efforts by the Thai authorities to extradite him.
The ban strikes another country off the map for Mr. Thaksin, who continues to roam the globe with a variety of passports eluding efforts by the Thai authorities to extradite him.
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