Practice question
A career consular officer, not a national or permanent resident of the receiving State, is charged with a grave crime arising wholly outside consular functions. A competent judicial authority orders detention pending trial. The applicable VCCR is the only relevant immunity agreement. The officer insists that consular status absolutely bars both jurisdiction and pretrial detention. Which answer is best?
- Consular status bars every prosecution and detention.
- Only a police officer's preference is needed for pretrial detention in any minor case.
- Article 43 does not shield the stipulated private conduct, and Article 41 permits pretrial detention for a grave crime pursuant to the competent judicial decision.
- The officer becomes a diplomatic agent automatically.
- The criminal charge automatically ends all consular relations.
Legal references
- Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), Articles 22, 29, 31–32, https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_1_1961.pdf
- Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963), Articles 36, 41 and 43, https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_2_1963.pdf
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