[JURIST] A senior Thai Justice Ministry official said Thursday that Thailand will renew a probe into the anti-drug campaign of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] during which close to 2,500 people were killed. Thaksin's war on drugs [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] began in 2003 and gained great support from rural voters. The investigation will be headed by former Thai attorney general Kanit na Nakorn and will investigate deaths that many rights groups believe to have been extrajudicial killings by police.

Thaksin, who has been living in exile since his ouster in a September 2006 military coup [JURIST report], is currently facing corruption charges [JURIST report], which are scheduled to be heard [JURIST report] by the Thai Supreme Court on August 14. Last month, Thaksin filed a lawsuit against the Thai Assets Examination Committee (AEC) for its seizure of Thaksin family assets [JURIST reports], demanding that the AEC terminate its freeze of approximately $2.1 billion in assets and seeking an additional $1.7 billion in compensation. Reuters has more.