Punishment Accepted but No Guilt Admitted : Legal Mobilization to Claim for Justice in Community Right

Abstract

     This article addresses tJintana Kaewkao’s declaration, “punishment accepted but no guilt admitted”. Jintana Keawkao was the leader of the Ban Grut - Bangsaphan environment and natural resource conservation group (Ban Grut-Bangsaphan Conservation Group). Her declaration reflects her legal consciousness about justice beyond law after she was sentenced to four months imprisonment for trespass on property owned by Hin Krut coal-fired power plant project owner Union Power Development Co., Ltd. in Supreme Court decision No. 13005/2553 concerning the case of Jintana Keawkao v. Union Power Development Co., Ltd.Jintana was willing to accept punishment by victimizing herself to raise public awareness and question justice in community rights cases as prescribed in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2540.

     Based on information and accounts from focus group meetings with key informants (Ban Grut-Bangsaphan Conservation Group), this article describes that the group’s social movement in response to development projects undertaken the state and capitalists (the Hin Krut coal-fired power plant project, the Bangsaphan iron and steel-making project, and the Bangsaphan steel industrial estate project) during the period of B.E.2540 - 2555 (15 years) was undertaken not just to pursue public or community interest but as an approach to questioning public policy and justice in positive law. Finally, this article discusses how the group exercised rights to self - determination and participation in the democratic process of governance in order to exert influence on their community’s future. The findings of the study show that legal mobilization is a success factor driving people to achieve public participation and the possibility of justice.