The Prime Minister
Federal Republic of Whitlam.
AND
Sir Randall Young, K.K., Duke Ixtran'zhil
Foreign Minister, Greater Zartanian Empire
From:
Dr Eloi White,
Director of Diplomatic Relations,
The United Democratic Republic of Utania.
June 20th, 300 AP.
I have taken the unusual step of addressing this letter jointly because some of the
questions presented by each of you are of mutual interest, particularly the matter of a
treaty between our three great nations.
The President of Utania is pleased that both Whitlam and the Zartanian Empire find
little fault with the suggestion of further ties, save a lack of detail, which was deliberate
on the Prime Minister's part, for he had not intended to dictate the terms to either nation.
Our suggestion for a treaty covering International Justice matters was not so as to override
the individual National courts, but to allow for extradition proceedings, the principles of
which are set out in the example below:
Should a wanted criminal in, say, the Zartanian Empire be found within Utania, the
Zartanian consulate need only provide a statement of the crimes of the individual or
Zartanian laws broken, and a copy of the individual's passport to the Office of the
President of Utania, and the individual would then be arrested by Utanian police, and
imprisoned.
It is proposed that this only apply to criminals who are citizens of the nation applying
for extradition. Citizens of third-party nations altogether may object vigourously to
Utania, for example, handing over one of the third-party nation citizens for trial in
Zartania or Whitlam.
Once satisfied the correct individual has been arrested, the President's office would
authorise Federal police to escort the individual to the Zartanian Consulate, where he will
be arrested by Zartanian authorities and returned to Zartania, effectively as "Diplomatic
baggage" (thus on Zartanian soil), for trial.
I see no reason for the lengthy process of extradition court proceedings to be applicable
here, which will only delay justice being served. Instead, by executive decisions made by
the office of the leaders of this country, the process can be sped up and allied nations
would not be seen to be interfering in eachother's legal matters.
There may be, however, certain conditions for which such an immediate repatriation may
not be so welcome. A law may, for example, be passed in Utania making illegal adultery,
yet the government of Whitlam may consider this an unextraditable offense. It is proposed
that these conclusions are reached by trial and error rather than by vigorous
examination of each nation's legal code to determine which laws warrant extradition.
In the longer term, when we are satisfied with the success of this program, perhaps a
three-nation body could be set-up to arrange the extraditions on behalf of the individual
executive leaders.
It was not, however, the suggestion that a central court be set-up at this early stage,
though Utania does not rule this possibility out in the much longer term.
My office would be more than willing to draft this portion of the treaty, after we have
finalised the details.
Peace be with you.
Eloi White,
Director of Diplomatic Relations,
Office of the President,
UDR of Utania.