KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 ― Malaysia said today it would issue an arrest warrant for a North Korean diplomat wanted for questioning over the murder of Kim Jong-nam if he doesn't voluntarily cooperate with the police.
“Reasonable” time will be given for the diplomat to come forward before police take further action, said Datuk Abdul Samah Mat, the police chief for Selangor state.
On Wednesday, Malaysia said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was wanted for questioning over the death of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Samah said if the person concerned did not cooperate the police would issue a notice under Malaysian law, “compelling” them to appear before the investigation team.
The 1979 incident is recalled by Gerald Hensley, former vice dean of the diplomatic corps in Sri Lanka, who himself heard it secondhand from a Cuban counterpart.
"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," said Mr Hensley, who also served as New Zealand's high commissioner to Singapore as well as a posting in Washington, DC.
Neighbours recognised that the Burmese diplomat was making a funeral pyre and informed Sri Lankan police when he then dumped his wife's body on top.
“Reasonable” time will be given for the diplomat to come forward before police take further action, said Datuk Abdul Samah Mat, the police chief for Selangor state.
On Wednesday, Malaysia said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was wanted for questioning over the death of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Samah said if the person concerned did not cooperate the police would issue a notice under Malaysian law, “compelling” them to appear before the investigation team.
Well, that's bullshit because the laws of Malaysia do NOT and canNOT apply to diplomats or foreigners with diplomatic immunity*.
* well, diplomats of and at a certain level of protocol - for example, diplomatic immunity does not apply to a lowly non-political-military staff like an embassy cook or driver unless they have been registered as an 'attache' of some sort, as the Russians are known to do, especially for their FSB (formerly KGB), wakakaka
Thus the police can't touch a single hair on North Korean Embassy 2nd Secretary Hyon Kwang Song's head nor any of his pubic hair, wakakaka.
For example, as reported by the Guardian: The murder of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 resulted in the UK cutting all diplomatic ties with Tripoli.
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Yvonne Fletcher |
No one was prosecuted over her death, and embassy staff claimed diplomatic immunity before being deported.
The young police officer was shot during a demonstration against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, and the bullet was thought to have come from inside the building.
Last year, it was reported that prosecutors had named junior diplomat Abdulmagid Salah Ameri as a suspect. He would have to be stripped of any immunity if charges were to be brought.
The young police officer was shot during a demonstration against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, and the bullet was thought to have come from inside the building.
Last year, it was reported that prosecutors had named junior diplomat Abdulmagid Salah Ameri as a suspect. He would have to be stripped of any immunity if charges were to be brought.
It was subsequently learned that for some time around the period of 1984 the Libyan embassy was staffed by so-called 'revolutionary committees' who were in reality students loyal to Gaddafi - amateur and definitely NOT diplomats, so to speak.
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Libyan Embassy London 1984 |
Those clowns assumed control of the Embassy with the approval of the Libyan government.
One of them used a sterling machine gun to fire on an anti-Gaddafi demonstration (by Libyans) outside the Embassy (as if they were back at home) and in the same process killed Yvonne Fletcher.
The sad story did not end there but alas, you'll have to research the long affair yourself if you are interested.
And then there was:
... perhaps the most egregious use of diplomatic immunity goes to the former Burmese ambassador to Sri Lanka who reportedly murdered his wife before burning her body in his backyard – in full view of spectators and police.
The 1979 incident is recalled by Gerald Hensley, former vice dean of the diplomatic corps in Sri Lanka, who himself heard it secondhand from a Cuban counterpart.
"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," said Mr Hensley, who also served as New Zealand's high commissioner to Singapore as well as a posting in Washington, DC.
Neighbours recognised that the Burmese diplomat was making a funeral pyre and informed Sri Lankan police when he then dumped his wife's body on top.
"It caused quite a stink," Hensley said, adding: "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."
On February 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Kazuko Shimokoji, wife of the Japanese Consul-General, showed up at the ER of a city hospital with two black eyes and a bruised neck. She told doctors that her husband had beaten her.
Unless the North Korean Embassy waives diplomatic immunity for Hyon Kwang Song, there's nothing the police can do to him.
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Hyon Kwang Song |
I suspect Abdul Samah Mat, the Selangor CPO, is (a) playing poker bluff with the North Korean Embassy, or (b) appealing to the good sense and honour of the North Korean Ambassador, or (c) totally clueless about diplomatic immunity, wakakaka.
An example of a country waiving diplomatic immunity for a member of its diplomatic staff would be the example as follows:
When local police questioned her husband, Mr. Shimokoji said, "Yes, I punched her out and she deserved it", and 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 was widely reported in both the local and Japanese press.
The subsequent public uproar prompted the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to waive Mr. Shimokoji's immunity. Though he pleaded guilty in Canadian court, he was given an absolute discharge. Nonetheless, he was recalled to Japan where he was reassigned to office duty and had his pay cut.
In June 2014, the New Zealand government confirmed that Mohammed Rizalman Bin Ismail from Malaysia, aged in his 30s and employed at Malaysia's High Commission in Wellington, had invoked diplomatic immunity when faced with charges of burglary and assault with intent to rape after allegedly following a 21-year-old woman to her home.
[no, he did not subsequently commit seppuku, wakakaka]
Another case which salvaged some honour for Malaysia after much great dishonour was the case of the idiot who berak (defecated) in front of a woman's house in some moronic occult belief, as follows:
He returned to Malaysia in May 2014 with his family while the case was still in hearing. The New Zealand foreign ministry was criticized for allowing the defendant to leave the country, which was blamed on miscommunication between the foreign ministries of the two countries, as Prime Minister John Key expressed his view that "the man should have faced the charges in New Zealand".
Malaysia eventually agreed to send the diplomat back to assist in investigations and he was eventually tried and detained in New Zealand.
But there is one last resort for Malaysia. According to Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), covering diplomatic immunity, Wisma Putra can declare Hyon Kwang Song to be persona non grata. Then we will force North Korea to repatriate him within a reasonable period of time, failing which Hyon then will lose his diplomatic immunity.
But neither the North Koreans nor Burmese, etc have been the worst serial offender of diplomatic immunity and at the same disrespectful of others'. That dubious (dis)honor belongs to the USA, wakakaka. Its list of diplomatic crimes, civil offences and disrespect for others' is far too long to detail here. And the arrogant Yanks wonder why people around the world dislike them.
Article 39 (2) of the Vienna Convention is interesting though.
ReplyDeleteAs the immunity would not continue for a diplomatic staff who is leaving the host country, thus logically it should follow that there is no immunity too for any act which was performed outside the exercise of the diplomatic staff's function such as complicity to murder.
But I would agree with you that those arrogant Yanks would say no.
Among people who are knowledgeable about the science behind the alleged VX incident, serious questions are being raised.
ReplyDeleteThere is only a short list of substances which are so toxic that they can kill within minutes if applied on the skin or breathed in. VX is certainly one of them.
However, if the dose of VX was sufficient to kill Kim within 20 minutes, as the police say, whoever applied the substance on his skin would have had to take extraordinary precautions including latex gloves and masks.
The two accused had no such protection, only washing their hands after the attack , as claimed.
Its quite logical to expect the two alleged women attackers to have been seriously sickened or dead, but they seem to have been quite OK, especially the woman in the LOL tee-shirt.
The problem with Malaysia's PIG (Police Inspector General) is he has been telling half-truths and outright lies so many times and for so long, most Malaysians don't treat him with any credibility.
If PIG were telling the truth just this one time, nobody would believe him.
US diplomats have most often been expelled for conducting espionage , surveillance, involving themselves in the host country's political activity such as discussions with Opposition leaders, and even providing aid to opposition groups. There have been cases of US Diplomats engaged in covert Regime Change or Destabilisation activities.
ReplyDeleteThe host country has the right to oppose this and choose to expel them.
However, these are part of the diplomats' job duties either overt or covert, regardless whether you like them or not.
These cannot be conflated with serious personal crimes carried out by a diplomat such as attempted rape, actual rape, murder, smuggling alcohol, cigarettes, etc.
So Ktemoc's statement worst serial offender of diplomatic immunity ...That dubious (dis)honor belongs to the USA , I disagree.
At one time USA diplomats were trying to short changed UK in rental, saying preposterously that diplomats were exempted from tax, and that rental was a form of tax
DeleteFrom Wiki: In 2013, Indian consular official Devyani Khobragade was detained, hand-cuffed, strip searched, DNA swabbed, and held in a federal holding cell in New York, relating to allegations of non-payment of U.S. minimum wage and for fraudulently lying about the wages to be paid on a visa application for her domestic worker. India registered a strong protest and initiated a review of privileges afforded to American consular officials in India as a result
On 27 October 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, diplomatic immunity does not apply to civil actions relating to vehicular accidents, but in 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that, since he was using his vehicle for consular purposes, Kent could not be sued civilly.
On 3 December 2004, in Bucharest, Romania, Christopher Van Goethem, an American Marine serving his embassy, ran a red traffic signal, collided with a taxi, and killed popular Romanian musician Teo Peter.[53] 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.[54] The Romanian government requested the American government to lift his immunity, which it 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.
In July 2013, Joshua Walde, an American diplomat in Nairobi, Kenya, crashed into a mini-bus, killing one man and seriously injuring eight others, who were left with no financial assistance to pay for hospital bills. United States embassy officials took the diplomat and his family out of Kenya the following day. The United States government was concerned about the impact the accident could have on bilateral relations with Kenya. Walde gave a statement to police, but was not detained due to his diplomatic immunity. Kenyan police say the case remains under investigation.
On 14 February 2013, a vehicle bearing diplomatic plates registered to the US Embassy got into an accident in Islamabad, Pakistan involving two residents out of which one was killed and the other survived. Murder charges were laid under Section 320 of Pakistan Penal Code against the driver of the vehicle who is a diplomat according to Pakistani official.
The above naughtiness do not include murders, rapes, assaults, other crimes committed by US servicemen in Japan, South Korea, even Australia and especially in Philippines - usually they would be 'whisked away' swiftly before the local laws took place or even in the face of local attempts to prosecute
DeleteTo set the record straight.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devyani_Khobragade_incident
At the time of her arrest, Devayani Khobragade was Deputy Consul General of India at their New York office. She had Consular immunity, meaning she had legal immunity for performing her consular duties. But NOT Full Diplomatic immunity.
The case against her was of a personal nature, regarding alleged visa fraud and illegal employment of a person not entitled to work in the capacity (domestic help) in the United States.
So she was arrested and charged fair and square.
Her treatment during arrest could be described as severe, but not a breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
India subsequently transferred her to their UN Mission and upgraded her to full diplomatic immunity. That was more than 3 weeks after the original arrest, and has does not nullify her being subject to arrest at the time.
In fact if you read the facts of the case, Devyani Khobragade's conduct leading to her arrest is shameful and unbecoming of a person of her position.
US Military personnel actively deployed anywhere in the world are subject to US Military law, even when off duty. With rare exceptions, the US Military never allows them to be subject to local laws.
They are NOT diplomats and whatever happens has nothing to do with the conventions covering diplomats.
The social and legal issues caused by stationing of US military personnel in various countries should be sorted out by those countries with the Yanks.
Why don't they just kick them out ?
when AAB went to the USA (his 1st visit as PM) at the airport he was made to remove his shoes by a lowly security guard as if he was an ordinary passenger - to AAB credit he kept cool.
DeleteThe disrespect USA officials have for foreigners (except those from the anglo-saxon countries) have been legendary.
The indian case rolled into that disgraceful episode despite Indian authorities telling the USA auithorities to back off, an indication of the USA's couldn't-care-less attitude towards others