Tag: Diplomatic Immunity

M.A.H.

On By In Supreme Court
Supreme Court, M.A.H., Nr. AR P.13.1856.N, 3 December 2013

In 2013, the Belgian police were able to arrest M.A.H., suspected to be involved in the hostage-taking of a Belgian merchant vessel off the Somali coast, after he was lured to Belgium under the pretence that he could be a part of a movie project about maritime piracy.
M.A.H. relied on diplomatic immunity, but the Belgian Supreme Court rejected this claim. In particular, the Court held that M.A.H.’s alleged diplomatic passport was a mere travel document delivered by the previous government, whereas the Somali documents qualifying him as an ‘anti-piracy officer” did not entail any diplomatic status either. What is more, his reasons for entering Belgium were purely private and had nothing to do with exercising any public function. The Belgian Foreign Ministry has also confirmed in writing that M.A.H. did not qualify for diplomatic immunity.

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Republic of Argentina v NMC Capital Ltd

On By In Supreme Court
Belgian Supreme Court, Republic of Argentina v. NMC Capital LTD, Nr. C.11.0688.F, 22 November 2012
ECLI:BE:CASS:2012:ARR.20121122.3

The judgment annuls a previous judgment by the Brussels Court of Appeals dated 21 June 2011. In the latter judgment , the Court of Appeals took the view that Argentina’s general waiver of immunity from jurisdiction and immunity from execution also covered the goods of Argentina’s diplomatic mission in Belgium, including its bank accounts (without there being a need to verify whether the amounts seized were used for purposes other than the functioning of the diplomatic mission). According to the Supreme Court, this approach violated articles 22, 3 and 25 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as well as the customary rule of ‘ne impediatur legatio’. In particular, the Supreme Court confirmed the need for an explicit and specific waiver of immunity in respect of goods of the diplomatic mission.

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