Why do diplomats escape the law?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2019

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

In August a young man called Harry Dunn died when a car driving on the wrong side of the road crashed into his motorbike. The only suspect has left the country, and there’s nothing the police can do to get her to come back. Anne Sacoolas' husband works for the US government at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, and because of diplomatic immunity she currently cannot be prosecuted. The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy has interviewed Harry’s parents. And BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale explains why diplomatic immunity exists in the first place. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.4	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:07.9	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:10.5	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today why do diplomats escape the law?
0:27.0	In August a 19-year-old motorcyclist called Harry Dunn died in a crash.
0:35.7	There's only one suspect, but she's left the country.
0:39.4	And there's nothing the police can do to get her to come back because of an international law
0:43.8	that's existed since the 1960s which we'll talk about in a moment. But first
0:49.1	the BBC's Duncan Kennedy who's been to the site of a road accident that is causing an international diplomatic
0:54.8	row.
0:55.8	Well, let's go back to August the 27th, which was the day of the crash.
1:01.0	By all accounts, the weather weather was fine and just setting the picture it is
1:06.1	beautiful English countryside on the border between Northamptonshire and
1:10.1	Oxfordshire and set in the midst of this beautiful countryside is an American Air Force base.
1:17.0	It's actually a base that they lease off the RAF, called RAF Croton, or Croughton, as some locals call it.
1:25.0	I mean just to clarify, do we have any idea what goes on at this airbase?
1:29.0	No, it's a secret base, it's a spy base.
1:31.0	It's not even an air base, air base no planes go in and out of
1:34.4	there it's what is officially called a communication and intelligence gathering
1:39.3	base according to protesters according to campaigners who don't like to see these bases anyway, they believe it is a
1:47.0	relay station for the metadata, if you like, for drones operating in places like Afghanistan and Syria that links back
	...

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