My friend and I were having a heated argument today.
He says that if you are a foreigner, visiting another country, you are immune to any type of prosecution that may be a result of any criminal acts you have committed.
He explained the process as thus:
An American burns down a building in Germany. His embassy is informed, and they then have the right to demand his release, and they progressively send him back to the U.S.
My friend served in the army in S. Korea, and he says that American G.I.'s who committed crimes in Korea got arrested by Korean officials, sent to jail, released upon the demand of American authorities and sent back to base.
I, on the other hand, think anyone is subject to criminal prosecution, regardless of nationality. However, I do know that once you have been sentenced, you may request a transfer to your home country and serve your time there.
Who is right?
Do different laws apply in different countries, e.g. countries occupied by American armed forces?
Answers:
Your friend is wrong and an ignorant.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middl...
If you commit a crime in any country you can get jail, as a matter of fact foreiners get it worst. Only goverment officials like top emmbassy personel have "diplomatic inmunity".
Soldier don't have diplomatic inmunity. What he described is only a special treatment they gave to some soldier for small stuff like public intoxication and disorderly conduct but the Korean goverment could have refused if they wanted. Usually small infractions are let to the army for punishment but big felonies can be go to trial by both the Korean goverment and the Court martial.
http://usinkorea.org/crimes/12_22_1967.j...
http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/1967_dea...
http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/1967_ars...
http://usinkorea.org/crimes/9_feb_1968.j...
http://usinkorea.org/crimes/5_dec_1970_1...
http://usinkorea.org/crimes/1977_murder.
http://usinkorea.org/issues/subway/...
http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/1998_mur...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://www.usinkorea.org/stabbing/index.
http://search.hankooki.com/times/times_v...
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?secti...
http://search.hankooki.com/times/times_v...
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk...
http://english.people.com.cn/200307/17/e...
LOL
You do NOT have immunity.
Under the Diplomatic relations act no agent can be detained or arrested once his/her identity has been established. There are exceptions see Lethal Weapon 2 lol!
As far as I know immunity applies to some high ranking members of the diplomatic core and special visitors that are granted that privilege by the govt they are visiting.
The military SOFA (Status Of Forces Agreement) is not the same as immunity, soldiers will still be tried for crimes committed. The situation described in your question is only for Diplomatic Immunity which only protects diplomats and their family members from host government agencies and they can be expelled/recalled and tried at home for crimes committed abroad.
There was a time when colonial powers forced "extraterritoriality" on all their subject lands. It was basically diplomatic immunity for all their citizens when in territories controlled by that power.
No one has full immunity, even dictators eventually pay.
Just an ordinary person has no special immunity. If you break the law in a foreign country, you are subject to their legal system. Your embassy can ask that you be returned to your home country to face criminal prosecution there, but that decision is totally up to the country in which the crime occurred. Ten or twelve years ago there was a very famous case in which some 18 year old American kid spray-painted grafitti on some cars in Singapore. Under Singapore law, he was given a public caning...despite a lot of pressure from the U.S. to give him some other type of punishment.
The only people immune from prosecution are people who are under diplomatic immunity.
Your friend is a flaming Idiot.
I lived in Germany for 14 years, Austria for 5 and I worked for NATO, the Hague and German National Security and the ONLY people who have blanket immumity are diplomats and that can be revoked by the Ambassador.
Tell your friend to try burning down a building in Germany and see how long it takes to get a letter from him again.
I think that there are several things getting confused here.
1. Diplomatic immunity - in order to prevent countries from harrassing each others diplomats when they are at odds with each other they grant diplomats immunity from prosecution. If a country has a major problem with a diplomat they can petition that country to remove that diplomat. They can literally get away with murder but if their country recalls them they can be punished by their own country.
2. Military Stationed abroad - In many parts of the world we have our military stationed at bases in the countries of our allies. Because they are allies and both sides want to maintain ties, they will often release military members who have been arrested to the base for disciplinary action by the military members branch of service. However, if the arrest was for a serious crime like aggravated assault, rape, etc. they are under no requirement to return the American Service person. While I was stationed in Italy the base told us, do not get caught with drugs by the Italians because they will lock us up and throw away the key.
3. Regular Tourists - As a tourist, you are bound by the laws of the country you are in. You break their laws, you can be tried and penalized according to their laws.
I would not recommend trying it to find out for yourself.
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