First Thank You , Redditors for visiting! , the initial question, which was posted,and linked here was, What type of cars the diplomats use :
The answer is whatever they want , as long as it comply with the Diploatic DMV.
Also Car Juntion offers specials deals for diplomats, he lists which kind which are popular.
How far does diplomatic immunity go? It depends on your rank.
Top diplomatic officers have full immunity, as do their deputies and families.
A diplomatic agent is a national representative.
Originally, diplomatic agents helped work out certain negotiations between nations However, now a diplomatic agent acts as an intermediary of a foreign nation and the nation which employed the diplomatic agent.
That means ambassadors can commit just about any crime—from jaywalking to murder—and still be immune from prosecution -kind of?
Lower-ranking officials have a weaker type of protection called “functional immunity;.”
These officials are covered only for crimes committed within the scope of their regular work responsibilities.
For example, a consular official got into a fistfight during a meeting with a U.S. official, he would be protected from prosecution.
If the fight occurred at a bar over the weekend, he would not.
Service staff for an embassy or consulate, from the kitchen employees to valets, have no immunity whatsoever,and, contrary to popular belief, any diplomat can be issued a traffic citation.
They just can’t be forced to pay it. But who cares about that?
Most of that debt came prior to a city crackdown 4 years ago, on envoys who routinely were cited for illegal parking on city streets, but rarely paid because of diplomatic immunity.
When asked what he would say to diplomats to get rid of the backlog, Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday:
“It is important for diplomatic officials who enjoy diplomatic immensities and privileges to abide by and comply with all necessary regulations in force in the countries where one is working.”
(See the State Department’s breakdown of immunity levels.
The original reasons for Diplomatic Immunity was to ensure other nation’s diplomats can do their jobs.
In extreme cases, to stop other nations from being able to manipulate the law in order : harass, imprison, torture…etc
But in turn, protects ambassadors from a nation who might want torture, varies, but it often comes down to wanting to get information out of diplomatic or otherwise just retaliate the diplomats.
One country for some have to reasons go around diplomatic immunity -such as can easily be done by making up crimes a diplomat is supposed to have committed and things of that nature.
Thus diplomatic immunity grants diplomats and any other agreed upon persons- usually said diplomats close family and staff blanket immunity from all local laws of the host country. They happen to be staying in diplomats can’t be arrested forced, testify in court, sued or made to pay taxes .
While the Vienna Conventions on International Relations of 1961 outline a series of safeguards that protect diplomats from being unfairly punished .
However, should tempers flare between their country and or the host nations, more than a few diplomats have taken advantage of their privileges in an irritating way.
On top of this blanket immunity, a much less well-known right afforded to diplomats, is the ability to carry something known as a diplomatic bag or diplomatic pouch.
The idea behind diplomatic bags, is to allow diplomats to move sensitive information across international borders freely.
The rules for this immunity are again laid in the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations ,where its article 27 states the receiving State shall permit and protect free communication.
On the part of the mission for all official purposes, the official correspondence of the mission shall be inviolable.
The diplomatic bag shall not be opened or detained and the packages constituting the diplomatic;A bag must bear visible external marks of their character and may contain ,only diplomatic documents or articles intended for official use.
Of course many people have ignored this last phrase and are happy to ship all manner of things in this way.
On that note, despite the name a diplomatic bag , It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bag or even something a diplomat can carry, thanks to the vague guidelines for what exactly a diplomatic bag -is as a result a diplomat can declare anything from a simple paper envelope to a shipping container to be a diplomatic bag like with diplomatic immunity.
The concept of diplomatic pouches, is open to abuse with diplomats in the past using them to smuggle drugs weapons and all manner of illicit things across international borders for an example of a more extreme cases:
The Dikko affair was a joint Nigerian-Israeli attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian civilian government minister living in London, United Kingdom.
In 1984, he was secretly transported him back to Nigeria in a diplomatic bag/pouch.
Though the kidnapping took place, the transportation was unsuccessful.
Mr Dikko had been minister for transport in the government of Nirgeri,until it was overthrown by the military at the DEC 31,1983
He fled to London accused by Nigeria’s new rulers of embezzlement, on supposed crimes involving corruptions and stealing billions of dollars in oil revenue from the country.
Labelled “Nigeria’s most wanted man”, a plot was hatched to get both him and the money back.
The extraordinary plan was to kidnap Mr Dikko, drug him, stick him into a specially made crate and put him on a plane back to Nigeria – alive.
Israeli anaesthetist
An Israeli alleged former Mossad agent, Alexander Barak, was recruited to lead the kidnap team. It included a Nigerian intelligence officer, Maj Mohammed Yusufu, and Israeli nationals Felix Abitbol and Dr Lev-Arie Shapiro, who was to inject Mr Dikko with an anaesthetic.
Nigerian officials allegedly contracted Mossad the Israeli intelligence and Special Operations. They were able to use their agents to kidnap a man called Umaru Dikko in London. The two Israeli mercenaries who led the kidnapping went into England illegally a few nights before the incident on the same Nigerian Airlines 707, used in this case, in less than 24hrs.
The two Israelis were citizens of Israel, but one was from Russia and the other Tunisia.
Before shoving him in a crate, along with a with a doctor who would keep him alive on the journey,Whether these charges were true or not, the agents managed to find him, drug him, capture and kidnap him.
The kidnappers switched vehicles in a car park by London Zoo and headed towards Stansted airport where a Nigerian Airways plane was waiting.
They injected Mr Dikko and laid him, unconscious, in a crate. The Israeli anaesthetist climbed into the crate as well, carrying medical equipment to make sure Mr Dikko didn’t die en route. Barak and Abitbol got into a second crate. Both boxes were then sealed.
At the cargo terminal of Stansted Airport, 40 miles (64km) north of London, a Nigerian diplomat was anxiously waiting for the crates to arrive.
Also on duty that day was a young customs officer, Charles Morrow.
They would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for a meddling man named Charles Morrow.
The day had gone fairly normally until about 3pm.
Then we had the handling agents come through and say that there was a cargo due to go on a Nigerian Airways 707, but the people delivering it didn’t want it manifested,” Mr Morrow said.
“I went downstairs to see who they were and what was happening. I met a guy who turned out to be a Nigerian diplomat called Mr Edet.
He showed me his passport and he said it was diplomatic cargo. Being ignorant of such matters, I asked him what it was, and he told me it was just documents and things.”
No-one on duty at Stansted ,had dealt with a diplomatic bag before, and Mr Morrow went to check the procedure.
Just then a colleague returned from the passenger terminal with some startling news.
There was an All Ports Bulletin from Scotland Yard saying that a Nigerian had been kidnapped and it was suspected he would be smuggled out of the country.
The police had been alerted by Mr Dikko’s secretary who had witnessed his abduction from a window in the house.
Hearing the news, Mr Morrow realised he had a problem on his hands.
Morrow had seen all sorts bulletin from Scotland Yard noting that a kidnapping of a prominent Nigerian man had taken place.
It also noted Scotland Yard thought it very likely the kidnappers would presently be trying to smuggle the Nigerian out of the country around.
This same time, Morrow found himself with a diplomat from Israel attempting to ship two rather large crates back to Nigeria. Aboard a Nigeria Airways Boeing 707, otherwise empty of passengers besides security guards with 2 crates.
But any cargo designated as a diplomatic bag is protected by the Vienna Convention from being opened by customs officers. So Mr Morrow got on the phone to the British Foreign Office. However,
“To qualify as a ‘diplomatic bag’ they clearly had to be marked with the words ‘Diplomatic Bag‘ and they had to be accompanied by an accredited courier with the appropriate documentation.
It was fair to say they had a Nigerian diplomat – I’d seen his passport – but they didn’t have the right paperwork,” he said.The decision was taken that the crates could be opened – but it had to be done, by the book.
That required the presence of a Nigerian diplomat, but as Mr Morrow pointed out, one was already on hand.
By now, the crates were up on special trolleys ready to be loaded on to the plane.
“Peter, the cargo manager, hit the lid on the bottom and lifted it.
As he lifted it, the Nigerian diplomat, who was standing next to me, took off like a startled rabbit across the tarmac,” Mr Morrow said.
“You have to remember we are on an airfield which is square miles of nothing. He ran about five yards (4.5m), realised no-one was chasing him and then stopped.
“Peter looked into the crate and said: ‘There’s bodies inside!’
He parked a forklift truck so its tines lay across the top of the crate so it couldn’t be opened. Mr Morrow dialled the emergency number 999.
“My name’s Morrow, from Customs at Stansted.
We’ve got some bodies in a crate. Do you think you can send someone over,” he recalls saying.
“They said: ‘We’ll send an ambulance as well.'” After half an hour, police started to arrive, and they opened the second crate.
Inside they found an unconscious Mr Dikko, and a very much awake Israeli anaesthetist. Mr Dikko was lying on his back in the corner of the crate.
I’ve seen his passport, but the crates [They]weren’t smart using a diplomatic bag. Using these facts, even though the diplomat was trying to invoke the rules surrounding diplomatic bags.
Morrow was safely, able to ignore the request and ordered the crates be opens where they found the kidnapped Nigerian.
He had no shirt only, heart monitor on him. He had a tube in his throat, to keep his airway open ,no shoes and socks, just handcuffs around his ankles.
On board were several Nigerian security guards, who openly identified themselves as such and stated that they were there to protect the baggage.
Their presence was reported to Scotland Yard‘s Special Branch. The following day, Dikko was kidnapped in front of his home while he was out for a walk and taken away in a van driven by Yusufu.
He was then drugged into unconsciousness by Shapiro. However, the abduction was witnessed by Dikko’s secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, who quickly notified the authorities.
Dikko and Shapiro were placed in one crate of, while Mossad agents Alexander Barak and Felix Abithol occupied a second.
As a result, customs officials who had received an all-points bulletin alerting them to the kidnapping while the crates were being processed at the airport were able to open the crates without violating the convention and foil the kidnapping. Dikko was taken to a hospital; he was uninjured.
17 men were arrested; 4 were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 14 years: Shapiro, Barak, Abithol, and Yusufu. All 4 were released after serving between 6 and 8 and a half years, and were quietly deported.
The Nigerian and Israeli governments never admitted any connection to the incident. Nonetheless, the British government immediately expelled two members of the Nigerian High Commission in London, including the High Commissioner.
Diplomatic relations with Nigeria were broken off for two years. The CEO of Nigeria Airways was at one point almost arrested by British police.
In the aftermath of the affair, Nigeria filed a formal extradition request for Dikko, but it was refused.
The Nigerian government’s war against the previous government’s corruption was also weakened, as the British government also rejected Nigerian requests to extradite other politicians wanted in Nigeria on corruption charges and living in exile in Britain.
Dikko was eventually asked to return to Nigeria. He accepted the invitation and set up a political party.
In 1967, Sao Boonwaat was the ambassador for Burma in Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka). He’d previously served in an official capacity in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and France, and he represented Burma in the International Atomic Energy Agency Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Boonwaat was Burma’s ambassador to Sri Lanka in 1967
Boonwaat caused international headlines when he shot and killed his wife, Shirley, over an alleged affair with popular night club singer Rex de
Silva. Shirley Boonwaat had been active in Colombo high society and charity events but allegedly had a history of infidelity.
Initially, the official story was that she died of cerebral hemorrhage caused by hypertension. She had met Silva at the popular 388 nightclub, where he performed with his band.
On October 14, Mrs. Boonwaat had an affair with Silva and then dropped him off at his apartment before heading home to be confronted by her husband. Nearby construction workers soon heard gunshots.
The ambassador had threatened his wife with a gun and dragged her into the garden, but some reports suggest that she may have pressed herself to the gun before it went off. At least, that’s what the ambassador would later tell a Rangoon court.
The beautiful socialite Shirley Boonwaat (Times of Ceylon of October 16, 1967)
Things got weird when Boonwaat built a funeral pyre to cremate his wife on the grounds of the diplomatic compound, and nearby residents woke up to a strong smell and the sight of a group of Buddhist Monks giving the final rites.
When Sri Lankan police arrived, they were reminded that the compound was technically Burmese territory, and they couldn’t intervene.
This led to a diplomatic dispute between the two countries, and Boonwaat was recalled to Rangoon.
There was apparently a trial, but it is unclear what happened in the aftermath.
According to the memoirs of New Zealand diplomat Gerald Hensley:
The story was she had started an affair with a band leader, and when she came back late one evening he shot her.
The next morning he was out in Cinnamon Gardens, a suburb of Colombo, carrying logs for the fire.
It caused quite a stink. The ambassador said it was Burmese territory and they couldn’t enter.
In the end he was removed by the Burmese government and nobody seems to know what happened to him.
During the 2008 North American Leaders’ Summit in New Orleans between US President George W. Bush, Mexican president Felipe Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, one Mexican press attache was caught on film pocketing several Blackberries belonging to the White House.
Six or seven of the handheld devices had been left behind by US officials attending the high-level meeting, where such devices were not permitted for security reasons. They were pocketed by one Rafael Quintero Curiel, who was in charge of handling logistics and guiding the Mexican media during the conference.
Quintero Curiel had made it to the airport before the the Secret Service caught up to him, and he initially denied taking them.
After being shown security camera video of him taking the devices, he claimed that he had only taken them by accident for safekeeping, gave them back, claimed diplomatic immunity, and left with the rest of the Mexican delegation.
He later told the Mexican media that he had taken the devices thinking that they had been left behind and then rushed to the airport, so he gave the Blackberries to his driver to take back to the hotel.
He even claimed that the Secret Service had thanked him after he had explained himself. The diplomat was mocked on US and Mexican political blogs, becoming known as the “Blackberry Mexican bandit.”
LOSE YOUR IMMUNITY IN THE DIVORCE
In 1989, Mozambique’s representative to the United Nations wanted to divorce his American wife, so he waived his diplomatic immunity in order to take the matter to court. Unfortunately for the diplomat, Antonio Fernandez, he didn’t fare well in the case; he ended up losing the couple’s $5 million estate in the decision. Whoops.
Fernandez didn’t suffer from any shortage of gall, though. After losing the decision he attempted to invoke his diplomatic immunity privileges to keep from paying his ex-wife. Fernandez took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, but in the end his former love got the couple’s Greenwich, Connecticut, estate.
LIGHT UP ON A PLANE
In 2010, a Qatari diplomat ran into trouble on a Washington-to-Denver flight when he decided to have a smoke in the plane’s lavatory.
To make things worse, Mohammed Al-Madadi also made a joke that some passengers and flight personnel perceived to be a terrorist threat. Air marshals sounded various alarms, and in the end two F-16 fighter jets escorted the flight to its final destination. While diplomatic immunity kept Al-Madadi from being charged with any crimes, the Qatari government sent him home to help smooth things over.
The Qatari diplomat who was arrested for sarcastically telling air marshals on a jetliner that he was trying to set his shoes on fire, was en route to visit an imprisoned member of al Qaeda at the Supermax prison in Colorado.
Mohammed Al-Madadi, a 27 year old official at the Qatari embassy in Washington, has full diplomatic immunity that makes charging him in U.S. courts very difficult.
STOP PAYING YOUR RENT
A word of advice to landlords out there: if diplomats want to rent one of your properties, you might want to get a hefty security deposit. Just ask some of Manhattan’s biggest landlords.
A 1996 New York Times story illustrated the difficulty of renting to diplomats; landlords really don’t have any legal mechanism through which they can collect delinquent rent or evict diplomatic tenants.
At the time the article was written, one West African country was over $20,000 behind in its rent checks for a pair of luxury apartments in midtown Manhattan.
If you or I pulled a stunt like that, we’d be out on the streets. But diplomats enjoy a special kind of immunity known as “inviolability,” which states that the private residences of diplomats can’t be entered by the host country’s agents without the visiting country’s consent.
In short, the only way you can evict foreign diplomats is if their home nation gives you the thumbs-up first.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said 49 Russian diplomats got Medicaid to pay for childbirths while
The Federal Bureau of Investigation agent wrote in an affidavit contained in the complaint.
To qualify for Medicaid benefits for births, non citizens have to show proof of their immigration status and income.
During the time they were allegedly receiving the benefits, the defendants frequently bought luxury goods and took expensive vacations, according to prosecutors.
It is unclear whether the complaint would result in actual prosecutions or if it was largely symbolic.
sources wsj