BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office on Wednesday, ruling against him in an ethics case that throws the kingdom into fresh political turmoil.

The judges ruled 5-4 that Srettha breached regulations by appointing a lawyer with a criminal conviction to his cabinet, in a case brought by a group of former senators appointed by Thailand’s former ruling junta.

The ruling comes a week after the same court dissolved the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) and banned its former leader from politics for 10 years.

“The court rules by a majority of five to four that the ministerial position of the prime minister is terminated under the constitution, because he has not shown honesty in appointing this minister,” Judge Punya Udchachon said in reading the court’s judgment.

Punya said that Srettha must have known about lawyer Pichit Chuenban’s 2008 conviction when he appointed him to the cabinet.

“The appointment of the second respondent (Pichit) shows the first respondent (Srettha) has no honesty and breached ethical standards,” Punya added.

Srettha leaves office after less than a year in the job — the third prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court.

The court ruling dismisses not only Srettha but also his whole cabinet, and parliament will now have to meet to choose a new prime minister.

Cycle of turmoil

The case against Srettha centered around the appointment of Pichit, a lawyer associated with the family of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin — former Manchester City owner and longtime bete noire of the kingdom’s conservative pro-royalist, pro-military elite.

Pichit, sentenced to six months’ jail in 2008 for a graft-related offense, quit the cabinet in a bid to save Srettha, but the court pressed ahead with a case initiated by a complaint by senators appointed by Thailand’s former junta.