Diplomatic Immunity!

[Formaldehyde]

Who can ever forget this memorable scene from Lethal Weapon 2:


Link to video.

Well, it's baaack!

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/laferrari-driver-caught-terrifying-beverly-hills-129157052077.html

A YouTube video that went viral — showing a Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 911 GT3 tearing through residential streets of Beverly Hills; flying though stop signs while pedestrians waited to cross, narrowly avoiding other motorists — has caused outrage, with neighbors pleading with police to take action before someone gets hurt.

According to NBC4, the owner of said vehicles is claiming “diplomatic immunity,” telling a video journalist who asked for comment, “I could have you killed and get away with it.”

The name of the car’s owner has not been released, but he is rumored to be part of the Qatari royal family, and indeed the yellow LaFerrari — that boasts 950 hybrid horsepower and a price tag of $1.5 million — is registered to Qatar.

In the video the cars are seen screaming through residential streets, an area neighbors claim children play, before returning to the $10 million rented house in which the owner resides with smoke billowing from under the Ferrari’s hood. Video journalist Jacob Rogers told NBC4 he confronted the LaFerrari owner, and having been told he could effectively get away with murder due to his diplomatic status, he finished the brief interaction, according to Rogers, by saying, “’(Expletive) America’ and threw a cigarette at me.“

Local police are now investigating the incident which occurred last Saturday evening, telling Jalopnik that “It’s in the hands of the State Department now,” and, “Honestly, we don’t even know who was driving the Ferrari. All this driving occurred outside the presence of the police.”

Police did state that they have positively identified the driver of the Porsche.

As for the “diplomatic immunity” claims, if the correct credentialing is present, that could be a legitimate boundary to prevent the State Department from prosecuting the driver(s). It is possible for the official’s home country to waive immunity in the most serious of cases — such as in 2002 when a Colombian diplomat was prosecuted in London for manslaughter — but cases like this are rare. However diplomats may be expelled from a country where pleas to waive immunity have been denied.

In the case of the Beverly Hills LaFerrari/GT3 owner(s), time will only tell what punishment, if any, they receive. Despite the GT3 driver being identified, as of now, no charges have been made.

Warning bad words are present in this video. NSFW:


Link to video.

Does it make any sense at all that diplomats are exempt from such laws?

Do you think their diplomatic immunity should be revoked?

 

[Paul in Saudi]

Not all diplomats have diplomatic immunity. In fact, I await proof this fool does.

Say you are a Qatari. Your country issues you a diplomatic passport. This does not give you immunity. Nothing Qatar does can give you immunity. The host country extends diplomatic immunity.

Say you are a Qatari who has had diplomatic protection (under the Vienna Convention granted by the US. If you vacation in Mexico, they can arrest you. After all, Mexico has not extended protection.

Further, if you really mess up, Qatar can tell the US to go ahead and lock you up. Ukraine (IIRC) did this with one of their guys who killed someone while driving drunk.

So I sort of doubt this kid has diplomatic immunity.

 

[PhroX]

Frankly the idea of diplomatic immunity from criminal charges like this seems to me to be ridiculous (assuming of course the person in question does have immunity). If you're in a country, you should damn well have to adhere to it's laws, and you should be allowed to be punished by that nation if you don't, regardless of whatever position you hold.

There was a story on the Beeb a week ago about accusations of rape towards a Saudi diplomat in India:

Police in India are investigating allegations that a Saudi Arabian diplomat raped two Nepali maids at his home near the capital Delhi.

The women were rescued from the house in the suburb of Gurgaon on Monday after a tip-off from an NGO.

They say they were held captive by his family and starved and sexually abused by them and other Saudi nationals.

The Saudi embassy denied the charges. Police say the official has diplomatic immunity and is in the embassy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34194751

If the allegations are true, and the Vienna Conventions would allow him to get off pretty much scot-free, then there is something very wrong with said conventions.

 

[IglooDame]

The 'diplomatic immunity' international convention prevents countries from arresting/imprisoning diplomats on trivial or peculiar charges. One Qatari royal punk racing around a residential neighborhood isn't going to change that, and he'll be expelled/recalled as soon as face-saving arrangements permit.

 

[warpus]

Expulsion is not good enough in this case, this guy should face proper punishment for putting lives at risk, including the lives of children.

Diplomats are here as guests, they should behave respectfully. I can't imagine the sort of diplomatic fiasco I would create if this guy tried to do this in my neighbourhood and for one reason or another got out of his car with me around.

 

[Rashiminos]

Only law-abiding citizens care about diplomatic immunity..., did he hit anyone else?

 

[Borachio]

Diplomatic Immunity! What kind of vaccination programme is that? Is it going to make me immune to diplomats? I don't think so.

 

[Evie]

It's not very useful, everyone's researched the technology for spies by now.

 

[tetley]

I can see why we need complete diplomatic immunity. After all, imagine the war situation where liaisons walk over waving white flags to negotiate a truce, or handling wounded, etc.. But also clearly we cannot wait until people are killed and raped before just expelling them and rethinking the country's diplomatic status. One possible solution is to make diplomats still subject to their own country's laws. Americans do that all the time with soldiers, intelligence, police, all that. Although I freely admit that has not worked out too well--they are very much behaving lawlessly, too.