Immunity from Jurisdiction: Complicated, and getting more so: Monika Lüke, 'Die Immunität staatlicher Funktionsträger', Berlin: Verlag A. Spitz; Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsggesellschaft, 2000, 429 pages

Abstract

Monika Lüke’s book on the immunity of State officials from civil and criminal jurisdiction came in the midst of the heated debate on the Pinochet case in the United Kingdom. But it appeared before the International Court of Justice declared, without much ado, in the Congo/Belgium case that the Congolese foreign minister enjoys immunity from Belgian criminal jurisdiction despite allegations of severe human rights violations, and also before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg held that the international law rules on the immunity of States (not State officials) provide a sufficient justification for national courts to infringe on the right to access to a court recognised by the European Convention of Human Rights by not allowing cases for trial if the defendant is a foreign State.