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LONDON - Ousted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said a two-year corruption sentence against him was politically motivated, in a letter seen by AFP on Thursday.
In the letter addressed to the international media and faxed to AFP's London bureau, Thaksin said that after having heard the judgment, "I am still confused; there is no evidence of fraud, corruption nor abuse of power."
He said: "I was convicted simply because I was a politician."
Thaksin, who fled to Britain in August, was sentenced in absentia on Tuesday to two years in jail for violating corruption laws when he helped his wife buy a cut-price lot of government land in 2003.
The 59-year-old was cleared of more serious charges of abuse of power, while his wife Pojaman was cleared of all charges.
The couple said they had come to Britain because they would not get a fair trial on corruption charges back home.
"Interestingly, the court did not find the sale transaction of my wife unlawful or illegal, they did not convict her because she is not a politician; nevertheless, I was," Thaksin wrote in the letter.
He continued: "If I were to be guilty of anything, that would be what I have shown to the Thai people, especially those underprivileged rural Thais that they can, and have the right to, demand their government to provide effective policy and programs to improve their lives." -AFP/vm
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