system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: From a legal standpoint, how much does diplomatic immunity actually allow a person to get away with?
gpt
Absolutely anything, theoretically. In practice, it completely depends on the relationship between the two governments. Libya has gotten away with shooting a British cop dead in London on the grounds the person doing the shooting was inside the embassy at the time, and the British cops had no right to search the place or interview anyone. On the other hand a Russian diplomat here in Canada killed someone while driving drunk some years ago. We couldn't prosecute him, but the Russian government recalled the guy and charged him under Russian law. I'd be willing to bet it would have been much more pleasant for him to have waived immunity, but so it goes.