Royal aide accused of Thai coup’s plot dies

Bloomberg

Prem Tinsulanonda, one of Thailand’s most powerful figures over the past four decades who was accused of masterminding a 2006 coup against former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, has died, the Bangkok Post reported. He was 98.
The former premier died of heart failure in a hospital in Bangkok on Sunday, the paper said, citing media reports.
Prem served as army chief and then prime minister for nearly a decade spanning the late 1970s and 1980s. He later became the top royal adviser
to former King Bhumibol Adulyadej and then his son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who took the throne in 2016.
More than 100,000 pro-Thaksin supporters rallied outside of Prem’s house in 2009 to demand that he step down from the king’s Privy Council.