BANGKOK, THAILAND - NEARLY two years after a coup, ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra goes on trial on Tuesday on corruption charges, the first in a raft of cases this month against his family and aides.

When royalist generals toppled his government in September 2006, they accused Mr Thaksin of widespread corruption, undermining the nation's democracy and insulting Thailand's revered king.

But the case actually before the Supreme Court is far less sweeping.

If convicted, Mr Thaksin and Ms Pojaman could face up to 13 years in prison.

Because the case is going directly to the Supreme Court, they would have no avenue of appeal.

'We are confident that our evidence will be enough to prove in the court that (Mr) Thaksin and his wife are not guilty,' their lawyer Mr Anek Khamchum told AFP.

The trial is expected to last two months, but in the meantime, the courts will also tackle a series of other cases against Mr Thaksin's wife and several of his loyalists - including the former speaker of parliament and serving cabinet ministers.

The legal drama is unfolding against a political backdrop that echoes the political instability that rattled Thailand in the run-up to the coup.

Mr Thaksin's handpicked successor PM Samak Sundaravej led his supporters to victory in December elections, ending more than a year of military rule.

But just five months into his government, Prime Minister Samak faces street protests led by the same royalist activists who had targeted Mr Thaksin in the months before the putsch.

The Supreme Court has already clipped Mr Thaksin's wings ahead of the trial.

More than two billion dollars of his assets have been frozen, while the court has rejected a request from him to travel to China and Britain, where he owns Manchester City football club.

Three of his top lawyers were also jailed last month over claims they tried to bribe a judge with cash stuffed into a box of sweets.

But the legal mess is also bogging down the current government, which is stacked with many close Mr Thaksin aides.

Mr Thaksin confidante Mr Yongyut Tiyapairat had been voted the new speaker of parliament but survived less than three months over claims of vote fraud. The Supreme Court is set to rule on that case on Tuesday.

The health minister is in the dock over a share scandal, while the finance and labour ministers are defending themselves in a lottery controversy.

At the end of July, a criminal court will also rule on tax evasion charges against Mr Thaksin's wife.

Some hope that the court's verdicts will end more than two years of political turmoil, if all the parties respect the results.

'The court is the only way out of the political crisis for both sides, if they respect the judicial system,' said Mr Sukhum Chaeleysub of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University.

But with Thai politics still starkly polarised, the eventual verdicts could instead deepen the tensions, regardless of how the courts rule.

'I'm afraid that the political crisis will persist regardless of the judicial decisions,' said Mr Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University.

'The judicial decisions will be seen in partisan terms. One side will see it in a certain light, and the other side will see it in a different light.' -- AFP