Posted: Apr 15, 2010 6:34 pm
Bathynomus Giganteus wrote:Both [Germany and the USA] are UN countries. International law applies.
There's no such thing as "international law" in this context (it's a concept, not a legal code). There's the ICC treaty, and whatever laws Germany has passed. (The USA hasn't signed up to the ICC, & there's no UN court with the jurisdiction to try Benedict.) As Germany clearly has a functioning legal system competent to try the Pope, the ICC isn't really relevant, and for anything to happen, Germany would have to initiate proceedings against Benedict, and Britain would have to have some domestic law that authorized his arrest. (When Pinochet was nicked, a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, issued an arrest warrant, and we had a law on the books, which I referenced earlier.)
Even at the theoretical stage -- which, as we all know, is as far as this ever goes -- the whole concept falls apart.