crime

Ex-Russian diplomat exempted from charge over stolen SoftBank secrets

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Diplomatic immunity, I know.

However, you still can have the ability of arresting a foreign personnel on the ground of espionage and sedition behaviors. The US, Russia and China do it all the times against foreign officials. In this case, Japan simply lets him go when they have the ability of arresting him for further interrogations.

Logically, Shinzo Abe desperately needs to score that win on the Northern territories and Kuril Islands. This certainly means appeasing Putin at all costs. Japan struggles to maintain a good face in the Senkaku debacle but they find it impossible with Northern Territories. Unlike China, Russia does not fear anyone and willing to fire upon anyone. Freaking China fears Russian military might, so it was the reason why Jiang Zemin dropped all CCP's claims on Russian territories that Qing ceded to Imperial Russia.

This act is merely a desperation for the notice from Putin-sama.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Given the astonishing number of data leaks Softbank has had in recent years, it's actually a surprise to discover they have any secrets left.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Not true. Arresting and imprisoning a foreign nation's diplomat(s) is an act of war. At most the host nation may expel the offending diplomat and declare them "persona non-grata", meaning they can never return. The Russians certainly do harass the diplomats of their adversaries but do not arrest them or kill them. It is an unwritten rule that you don't do things to your adversaries diplomats you would not want done to your own.

In 1997, for example, the Republic of Georgia waived the immunity of its No. 2 diplomat after he killed a 16-year-old girl from Maryland while driving drunk. He was prosecuted, convicted of manslaughter, and served three years in a North Carolina prison before returning to Georgia, where he was paroled after two more years in prison.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/04/how-far-does-diplomatic-immunity-go.html

The article is old but it states that any diplomat isn't untouchable.

This Russian guy is an ex-diplomat. I am not sure that he has diplomatic immunity. The arrest and prosecution of any diplomat is possible Any big, major global power can do it if they want! Japan isn't one of them.

Meng Wanzhou was considered to have diplomatic immunity from China, yet Canada can arrest her and the US wants her prosecuted. If Americans want to get her, Chinese diplomatic immunity won't mean anything to the Yankees.

In case of China, they  arrested former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor on vague national security allegations. Canada specifically stated that both of them have diplomatic immunity!

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/12/canadian-pm-trudeau-says-china-not-respecting-diplomatic-immunity.html

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Why would this person be exempt when his status was former (ex) diplomat? (Anton Kalinin, 52, former deputy Russian trade representative in Japan) The end result is that the Russians have the manuals for Softbank network infrastructure and easy to target or to access unless they change/upgrade infrastructure which will cost lots and lots of yen. I know some folks out there who need jobs..

3 ( +3 / -0 )

This article does not make it clear when Kalinin ceased being a diplomat. If on November 28th 2018 he still was an accredited diplomat

Not entirely clear, but the article states that they asked the Russian embassy to turn himself in, so I suspect he was still a diplomat.

Basically he was a Russian government spy engaged in industrial espionage.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

They did not want another international embarrassment for the Japanese judicial system. They are still bruised from getting exposed by Ghosn on the world stage. Another incident and prosecutors might start jumping from buildings.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Kalinin should get five times whatever sentence the lame one he recruited, Araki, gets.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This article does not make it clear when Kalinin ceased being a diplomat. If on November 28th 2018 he still was an accredited diplomat then morally reprehensible though his actions may be, he is immune from prosecution under the Vienna Convention. If he no longer was then he could be prosecuted but good luck trying to persuade the Russkies to extradite him.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Let him go. Give other foreign diplomats a good idea. Spy, steal, get caught, go home scot-free. Tomorrow is another prey's turn. Good going, Japan. I'd like to see Chinese or North Koreans get away.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So phone companies have state secrets? Be careful out there.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"However, you still can have the ability of arresting a foreign personnel on the ground of espionage and sedition behaviors."

Not true. Arresting and imprisoning a foreign nation's diplomat(s) is an act of war. At most the host nation may expel the offending diplomat and declare them "persona non-grata", meaning they can never return. The Russians certainly do harass the diplomats of their adversaries but do not arrest them or kill them. It is an unwritten rule that you don't do things to your adversaries diplomats you would not want done to your own.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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