UK calls for return of US diplomat’s wife suspected in fatal crash
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday urged the U.S. to reconsider giving diplomatic immunity to a diplomat’s wife linked to a fatal car accident, the BBC reported.
Johnson told the network that the United Kingdom would speak to the U.S. ambassador, and “if we can’t resolve it then … I will be raising it myself with the White House.”
{mosads}“I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country.”
Anne Sacoolas is wanted for questioning over the death of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn in Northamptonshire on Aug. 27.
Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, family members of diplomats living in other countries are covered by immunity, allowing them to avoid arrest for virtually any crime.
The family member’s home country, however, can choose to waive immunity.
A State Department spokesperson told The Hill that “immunity is rarely waived.”
“We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in this tragic traffic accident,” the spokesperson said.
“Any questions regarding a waiver of the immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry; immunity is rarely waived.”
— This report was updated at 11:11 a.m.
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