Posted: Apr 15, 2010 4:03 pm
Seth wrote:
Moreover, the ICC does not have jurisdiction over non-signatory nations, and I don't believe the Vatican has ever subscribed to ICC or UN jurisdiction.
And the Swiss Guard would object to the notion that the Vatican "does not have borders that are policed." They've been doing it since 1506.
"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough."
(I wouldn't mess with anyone who has the cojones to dress like that!)
In addition to signing up to the ICC, I believe the accused's country of residence has to be incompetent to try him (which is why notions of trying Anthony Blair in the Hague are a pipe-dream). The Vatican hands criminals caught in the Vatican over to the Italian state, which tries them.
Geoffrey Robertson QC wrote a superb account of the trial and execution of Charles I (I disagree with most of his conclusions, but it's full of interesting material), but this idea, and his claim that extraditing Gary McKinnon to the USA would violate the English Bill of Rights, suggest that his legal suggestions are going off the wall. Points for inventiveness, though.