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October 20, 2005

Long, long arm of Spanish law - part deux

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The "international arrest warrant", or the "arrest anyone, anywhere, anytime, for anything because I say so" warrant, is on the march. This time being issued for the arrest of three U.S. soldiers, a tank crew, for having fired on the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad in April of 2003 and killing two persons, one of whom was Spanish. As we saw last time, the involvement of a Spaniard in the incident is only incidental, for Spain's highest court recently assumed jurisdiction over crimes in other countries even if there were no Spanish citizens involved — as victims, that is.
 
For those of you unfamiliar with the beast, the "international arrest warrant" is a product of Euro groupthink. James Bennett, in a short piece posted at one time — January, 2002 —  at the American Enterprise online site, described this wily jurisprudential critter as follows:

The events of Sept. 11 were shamefully used as an excuse to implement a measure European bureaucrats had been seeking for years—the pan—European arrest warrant. This measure permits a public authority in any one member—nation of the European Union to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person in any other member—nation, and have them extradited to face trial for crimes whether or not the act in question was a crime in the nation where the person was arrested. Furthermore, the extradition is automatic—there is no chance for a hearing to determine the validity of the charge.

Talk about police powers! I assume the Spanish have decided they are not bound to restrict their authority to "member nations." Or is the warrant in this case a concoction of the "International Criminal Court"? But then, wouldn't they have to issue it? Maybe the Spanish judge just decided to help them out. What a pal!
 
Where will this assumption of judicial overreach end? My guess is nowhere, no how, not ever — if the Eurocrats can help it. And you think it's bad in the U.S.?
 
Have fun, Mr. De Camp. I'm rooting for you. I'm sure your attorney will advise you to stay out of Europe.
 
Who knows? Maybe I'm next! Or you?

Dennis Sevakis  10 20 05