Foreign Diplomats

[kopend]

do foreign diplomats have any special thing that lest them get away with breaking the law and getting away with it ??

[jackthehat]

Diplomtic immunity?

[SirOracle]

Yes by and large.

[jackthehat]

Diplomatic immunity....even.

[Svejk]

They used to have Diplomatic Immunity. Don't know how that's working out now.

[kopend]

can you give me an example please ??

[Svejk]

Did the US ever pay the £millions they owed in parking fines, does anyone know?

[jackthehat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity

[retrocop]

kopend
You don't necessary have to be a FOREIGN diplomat to get away with law breaking.

[retrocop]

Example
Guns being brought into this country. A person shot outside the embassy from where those guns had been delivered.All occupants ushered out the country without investigation. It is known as getting away with murder in undiplomatic terms.
Can find quite a few more examples of diplomatic abuses if you want.

[hc4361]

Immunity from parking fines if the car has diplomatic number plates.

[Brinjal]

There was a case in NZ recently where a Malaysian diplomat was involved in a sexual assault. He packed up and went home thinking he had diplomatic immunity. The NZ government requested he be sent back and the Malaysian govt have complied.

[Peter Pedant]

yup long time and at common law

in 1705 or thereabouts - the Russian Ambassador was indicted for theft.
The 1707 Diplomatic Privileges Act was passed
and an illumined copy in Russian was offered to the Tsar - Peter the Great possibly, by the British Ambassady in St Petersburg, with his eyes cast down, fixed on the floor.

that good enough ?

Diplomatic immunity ( coz the Ambassador has the same status as the Head of State and they always have immunity ) isnt claimed - the person always has it

and I regret very much to report that the act has been repealed and replaced by an Act incorporating the more recent Vienna convention on Diplomatic Privileges

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Diplomatic_Relations