Diplomatic Immunity - Diplomatic Incidents

Diplomatic Incidents

• In 1979, in Sri Lanka, the Burmese Ambassador to Sri Lanka shot his wife as she got out of the car after seeing a player in a night-club band of whom she was enamoured. The next morning, his neighbours were surprised to see the Ambassador building a pyre on the back lawn. When the police were called, the Ambassador opened the metal front gates just enough to say that there was no trouble and to remind them that his house enjoyed diplomatic inviolability and could not be entered by Sri Lankan police. Then, he went back to work. The houses around his long back garden were now alive with fascinated spectators as he emerged with the body of his wife, placed it on the pyre and set it alight. He was well connected at home; but, after an awkward interval, he was recalled.
• In 1984, Libyan dissidents protested outside the Libyan embassy in London. British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher was killed by gunshots originating from the embassy. To date, the identity of the shooter has not been confirmed and the Libyan authorities made no effort to identify the culprit nor reveal whether the culprit was ever punished, although two years later it became a major factor in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's decision to allow U.S. President Ronald Reagan to launch the U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986 from American bases in the United Kingdom.
• In 1987, in New York City, 9-year-old Terrence Karamba was placed by the Human Resources Administration in a foster home after his elementary school teachers noticed suspicious scars and injuries. He and his 7-year-old sister, who was also placed in City custody but later released to the family, told officials the wounds had been inflicted by their father, Floyd Karamba, an Administrative Attache at the Zimbabwean Mission to the U.N. No charges were filed, as Mr. Karamba had diplomatic immunity.
• In January 1997, in the U.S., the Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Georgia, Gueorgui Makharadze, caused an accident that injured four people and killed a 16-year-old girl. He was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.15%, but was released from custody because he was a diplomat. The Georgian government waived his immunity upon request from the U.S., and Makharadze was tried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 7-to-21 years in prison. After serving three years of his sentence, he was returned to his home country, where he spent two more years in jail before being paroled.
• On October 27, 1998, in Vladivostok, Russia, Douglas Kent, the American Consul General to Russia, was involved in a car accident that left a young man, Alexander Kashin, disabled. Kent was not prosecuted in a U.S. court. Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, diplomatic immunity does not apply to civil actions relating to vehicular accidents. However, on 10 August 2006, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that, since he was using his own vehicle for consular purposes, Kent may not be sued civilly.
• On February 1999 in Vancouver, Canada, Mrs. Kazuko Shimokoji, wife of the Japanese Consul-General to Canada, showed up at the ER of a city hospital with two black eyes and a bruised neck. Asked about the origin of her injuries, she told doctors that her husband had beaten her up. Hospital staff notified the local police, who went to her home to question her husband. Vancouver Police Inspector Ken Davies quoted Mr. Shimokoji as saying: “Yes, I punched her out and she deserved it”, adding that Mr. Shimokoji described the incident as “a cultural thing and not a big deal.” Although an arrest warrant was issued, Mr. Shimokoji could not be arrested due to his diplomatic immunity. However his statement to the police found wide echo not only in the local press, but in the Japanese press as well. The subsequent uproar by the public opinion prompted the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to waive Mr. Shimokoji's immunity, so he had to stand trial where he entered a guilty plea, but was given an absolute discharge. Nonetheless, he was recalled to Japan where he was reassigned to office duty and had his pay cut
• In January 2001, in Canada, Andrei Knyazev, a Russian diplomat drove his car into two pedestrians on a quiet residential street, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Knyazev had previously been stopped by Ottawa police on two separate occasions on suspicion of impaired driving. Russia refused the Canadian government's request to waive his immunity. Knyazev was subsequently prosecuted in Russia for involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. His appeal of the sentence was denied, and he served time in a penal colony.
• On December 3, 2004, in Bucharest, Romania, Christopher Van Goethem, an American Marine serving his embassy, disregarded a traffic signal to stop, collided with a taxi, and killed the popular Romanian musician Teo Peter. Van Goethem's blood alcohol content was estimated at 0.09% from a breathalyser test, but he refused to give a blood sample for further testing and left for Germany before charges could be filed in Romania. The Romanian government requested the American government to lift his immunity, which it has refused to do. In a court-martial, he was acquitted of manslaughter and adultery (which is still a court martial offence) but was convicted of obstruction of justice and making false statements.
• On November 13, 2006, in New York City, Fred Matwanga, Kenyan diplomat to the U.N., was taken into police custody by officers responding to reports that he had assaulted his son; but he was released after police discovered he had a United States Department of State-issued credential identifying him as a diplomat.
• On April 24, 2008, in New Orleans, Mexican press attaché Rafael Quintero Curiel was seen stealing BlackBerry PDA units from a White House press meeting room. Quintero made it all the way to the airport before members of the United States Secret Service caught up with him. He initially denied taking the devices, but after agents showed him the security DVD, Quintero said it was purely accidental, gave them back, claimed diplomatic immunity and left New Orleans with the Mexican delegation; but he was eventually fired for the incident.
• In December 2009, in Singapore, the Romanian chargé d'affaires, Silviu Ionescu, was allegedly behind a drunk-driving hit-and-run accident that killed a 30-year-old man and seriously injured two others. He left Singapore for Romania three days after the accident. The Romanian foreign ministry suspended Ionescu from his post. A coroner's inquiry in Singapore, which included testimony by the Romanian embassy driver, concluded that Ionescu was solely responsible for the accident. An Interpol Red Notice was subsequently issued for his arrest and possible extradition notwithstanding the fact that Romania had not waived his diplomatic immunity and had commenced criminal proceedings against him in Romania. The Singapore government argued that by reason of Article 39(2) of the Vienna Convention, Ionescu was no longer protected by diplomatic immunity.
• In 2009, in Tanzania, Canadian Junior Envoy Jean Touchette was arrested after it was reported that he spat at a traffic police officer on duty in the middle of a traffic jam in the Banana district on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. Canada's High Commissioner, Robert Orr, was summoned by the Tanzanian Foreign Ministry over the incident, and the junior envoy was later recalled.
• On January 27, 2011, in Lahore, Pakistan, an American embassy employee, Raymond Allen Davis, shot and killed two Pakistani civilians. According to Davis, they were about to rob him and he acted in self-defense. When detained by police, Davis claimed to be a consultant at the U.S. consulate in Lahore. He was formally arrested and remanded into custody. Further investigations revealed that he was working with the CIA as a contractor in Pakistan. U.S. State Department declared him a diplomat and repeatedly requested immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which Pakistan is a signatory. Police officials identified the dead men as Faheem Shamshad, 26, and Faizan Haider, 22. A third person, Muhammad Abad ur Rehman, was struck and killed by a U.S. consulate car responding to the shooting. In their investigation, police retrieved photographs, from Davis’ camera, of some sensitive areas and Pakistani defense installations; and it is possible that he may be charged with Espionage as well. The wife of one of the slain men subsequently committed suicide, reportedly out of fear that Davis will not be prosecuted in the Pakistani judicial system.
• In the late evening of April 10, 2011, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Patrick Kibuta, an electrical engineer in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan caused a serious collision with another vehicle, while under the influence of alcohol. According to the police report, Mr. Kibuta, who was driving in the opposing lane, collided with a vehicle driven by a Canadian citizen residing in Islamabad. The victim suffered multiple fractures and required urgent surgery for her injuries. The accident occurred in the F6/1 section of Islamabad, and the Kohsar police impounded Mr. Kibuta's U.N. vehicle on the scene. A lab draw at a nearby hospital confirmed that he had an elevated blood alcohol level. Currently, charges for reckless and drunken driving have been filed against Mr. Kibuta; and an official investigation is pending to determine what, if any, legal recourse may be taken against Mr. Kibuta, who enjoys diplomatic immunity.
• In April of 2012, in Manila, Panamanian diplomat Erick Bairnals Shcks was accused of raping a 19-year old Filipino woman, but was later released from detention because Shcks "enjoys protection under the 1961 Vienna Convention".
• On August 16, 2012, it was alleged by the Equadorian embassy that the Government of the United Kingdom threatened to revoke the diplomatic status of the embassy of Ecuador in London in order to arrest Julian Assange.