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Diplomatic Immunity


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Wife of a US diplomat suspected of causing the death of a 19 year old motorcyclist in a crash has returned to the States claiming diplomatic immunity.  Looks like the immunity will not be waived.

There may be some good reasons for such immunity but surely it should not extend to situations such as this.

Thoughts?

https://news.sky.com/story/us-diplomats-wife-suspected-of-involvement-in-fatal-road-crash-left-uk-11827518

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It covers all offences. If Pete Sutcliffe has been a diplomat and his country had refused to waive it he would’ve been free. There have been murders in the U.K. by diplomats that haven’t been and never will be solved. I’m sure there have also been cases of some countries using diplomatic bags for smuggling drugs and counterfeit currency as well.

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Don’t expect the yanks to hand her over.  American pilots killed lots of people in a cable car in Italy and got away with it.  Christ I think the guys involved in the mai lai massacre got house arrest.  Shower of b*****ds.

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It might be one thing that a diplomat has immunity from these things (though I don’t think even that is right, for incidents such as this) but why do the partners/dependants?

 

Surely immunity comes from the kind of work the diplomat does I.e they may do things wrong in the line of duty. That doesn’t apply dependents who are not working for the government.

 

It’s just a way of looking after their own basically and it just fucks over everyone else.

 

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2 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

It might be one thing that a diplomat has immunity from these things (though I don’t think even that is right, for incidents such as this) but why do the partners/dependants?

Surely immunity comes from the kind of work the diplomat does I.e they may do things wrong in the line of duty. That doesn’t apply dependents who are not working for the government.

It's to stop diplomats or countries being blackmailed by having family members framed for stuff. A normal country would withdraw immunity in this case.

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11 hours ago, ICTChris said:

It covers all offences. If Pete Sutcliffe has been a diplomat and his country had refused to waive it he would’ve been free. There have been murders in the U.K. by diplomats that haven’t been and never will be solved. I’m sure there have also been cases of some countries using diplomatic bags for smuggling drugs and counterfeit currency as well.

Some? Try all.

I used to do work in a British High Commission in south Asia. The stuff that was being brought in in diplomatic bags was incredible.

Huge wads of cash, personal possessions of some very dodgy people, even weapons at a time when there was a bit of political/social strife in the country in question. Not enough for an army, but enough to beef up protection of the high commission if required.

And I'd underline at this point that this is only the stuff that nobody was bothered about me knowing about. Who knows what else was going on.

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Presumably one of the UK's diplomats in the States could murder this woman and high-tail it back here without fear of prosecution. I'm sure the Americans would be OK with that.

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13 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Wife of a US diplomat suspected of causing the death of a 19 year old motorcyclist in a crash has returned to the States claiming diplomatic immunity.  Looks like the immunity will not be waived.

There may be some good reasons for such immunity but surely it should not extend to situations such as this.

Thoughts?

https://news.sky.com/story/us-diplomats-wife-suspected-of-involvement-in-fatal-road-crash-left-uk-11827518

i agree, but I don't see how you get round it. If they're not going to pay parking fines, they're hardly going to go for trial on dangerous/reckless driving charges.

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It's to stop diplomats or countries being blackmailed by having family members framed for stuff. A normal country would withdraw immunity in this case.


Ahh, I hadn’t thought of those things, I can see why you would need it in those cases.
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8 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

 


Ahh, I hadn’t thought of those things, I can see why you would need it in those cases.

 

Neither had I, but I still don't think it's right to use it in cases like these. No doubt the UK has done it at some stage, of course.

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1 hour ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Presumably one of the UK's diplomats in the States could murder this woman and high-tail it back here without fear of prosecution. I'm sure the Americans would be OK with that.

Get in touch with the Foreign Office/Diplomatic Corps immediately...

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8 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Presumably one of the UK's diplomats in the States could murder this woman and high-tail it back here without fear of prosecution. I'm sure the Americans would be OK with that.

They should get a diplomat on a motorbike to run her over for maximum irony lolz.

Edited by Dee Man
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There's a movie in this: Diplomat Wars. Countries all over the world appointing trained assassins to diplomatic positions in order to Murtaugh each others' diplomatic criminals.

Actually, maybe that was the plot to John Wick, I don't recall.

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It may be an urban legend but I'm sure I read about the Americans smuggling a Soviet tank out of the USSR in a shipping container or something that they designated as a diplomatic bag during the Cold War.

Re the current incident - as much as these spineless Tory wankers say they want to stand up for Britain on the world stage etc, just watch how quickly they fold on doing literally anything about this rather than standing up to the Americans.


Back in the 80s the Nigerians teamed up with Mossad to try and kidnap a former Nigerian cabinet minister and send him back to Lagos in a crate under diplomatic protection.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikko_affair
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