"I'm not going to stand in a politicized trial, shaped by the politicians in Madrid, when I'm now helping build a new country," Ms. Venturós said.
The opposition was galvanized by the return last Friday of Sam Rainsy, a former finance minister who fled Cambodia in 2009 rather than face charges in a highly politicized trial.
It also included a law freeing political prisoners, the most prominent of whom is Leopoldo López, convicted in a highly politicized trial of inciting violence against the government in 2014 protests in which some 40 people were killed.
The protesters who raided the venue on Saturday wore red, the color of backers of Mr. Thaksin, who since being convicted of abuse of power in a highly politicized trial last year has remained overseas.
Steiner and others, many others, learned this the hard way, swept up in so-called "scandals" that came to naught, scandals that came to something, grand-jury investigations, depositions, fishing expeditions, hearings, witch hunts, politicized trials, and an impeachment.
Convicted by the trial court, Kneeland had appealed, and two more highly politicized trials ended in hung juries before the conviction was upheld in appeals.
In some authoritarian states, the report notes, "activists reported that their email and other communications were presented to them during interrogations or used as evidence in politicized trials, with repercussions that included imprisonment, torture and even death".
The departure of a high-profile individual creates much less of an impact in the Western press than the highly politicized trials of opposition blogger Alexei Navalny, on trial for alleged fraud, members of feminist art collective Pussy Riot, or Khodorkovsky.
The Muslim Brotherhood put out a statement calling the court case "a politicized show trial".
Attorney Ahmed Nashad who represented Mr. Senussi and Abuzaid Dorda, both of whom received recent death penalty sentences, said in a televised interview, "The trial was not politicized and was conducted in a normal and professional manner.
"These statements are defamatory and false and make a mockery of Turkey's independent judiciary and raise doubts that Rasool can receive a fair trial in this politicized atmosphere," he added. .
