Update to an earlier post, part one

An update to this post from Friday.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster in a 2006 coup amid charges of corruption and abuse of power initiated Thailand's on-going political crisis, has been convicted of graft for violating a conflict-of-interest law while in office, Reuters reported yesterday. The Supreme Court sentenced him to two years in prison.

Thaksin, who is living in exile in the UK, was tried in abstentia. The conviction

will add vigor to the street campaign trying to topple the present government led by his supporters, a protest leader said on Wednesday.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose supporters have occupied the prime minister's official compound since August, said the verdict vindicated their long-running campaign against Thaksin and what they call his puppet regime.

However, it's unlikely the conviction will bring any resolution to the crisis since Thaksin remains popular among rural voters and the poor while the current government, lead by his brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat, is bitterly opposed by urban elites and the military.