NCJ Number
97998
Date Published
1984
Length
154 pages
Annotation
These U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings in 1984 focused on S. 2771, a bill that would make it a Federal on felony for a foreign diplomat to use a firearm to commit a felony in the United States.
Abstract
An opening statement by Senator Jeremiah Denton described the April 1984 killing of a British police constable in London by an individual inside the Libyan Embassy who had diplomatic immunity. The killer, who also wounded 12 people in shots from an automatic weapon, was not prosecuted. Speakers at the hearing included officials from the Department of State, the director of the Center for International Security in Washington, D.C., and a U.S. senator. Supporters of the bill noted that it did not involve a unilateral modification by the United States of the Vienna Convention, since it would not become effective until the President renegotiated the Convention's Article 31. They also noted that although diplomatic immunity is an important protection, it should not apply in cases in which extreme acts or international terrorism is involved. State Department representatives expressed criticisms on the grounds that foreign governments could retaliate by exposing American diplomatic personnel abroad to criminal liability. They pointed out that embassy guards, unlike military forces stationed abroad, are currently protected by diplomatic immunity. Written statements from the speakers and extensive materials and statements from British Government officials are included.