‘DFA can ask Panama to waive diplomat’s immunity’

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should consider asking the Embassy of the Republic of Panama in Makati City   to waive the diplomatic immunity of its citizen who was accused of raping a 19-year-old girl, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Thursday.

The victim’s lawyers are also set to ask a Makati court today to reconsider its decision dismissing the  case.

De Lima said she had also ordered the National Prosecution Service to review the case of Erick Bairnals Shcks, a technical officer of the Panama Maritime Authority, who was accused of raping the girl last month.

“The DFA can consider requesting   the Panamanian government to waive immunity so that he would be made fully answerable to the charge if and when proven to be guilty of the crime charged, which is rape,” De Lima told reporters.

“The state concerned can always consider a waiver of immunity,” she added.

De Lima said the Department of Justice (DOJ) was closely coordinating with the DFA  especially after the latter certified that Shcks has immunity.

“Of course, we have to defer to the  DFA once they issue an official certification, since they are the agency with the primary authority or jurisdiction on the matter when certifying entitlement to immunity,”  she said.

“But of course, this is a criminal case and under the principle of territoriality, it was committed here,” she said. The DFA should also coordinate with the Panamanian Embassy to make sure Schks does not leave the country while the case against him remains unresolved, the DOJ official added.

“Its’ something that at the diplomatic level, at the level of the DFA and Embassy of Panama,  can always be discussed amicably. It is important  whether one is a foreigner or not to respect the laws of the land,” De Lima said. “If anyone is liable, then he should be made to answer, but of course constricted by certain principles under international law. There are general rules. There are exceptions. There are ways to do it.”

Fernand Castro, a lawyer of the victim, said they would also ask Makati Judge Honorio Guanlao to issue a hold departure order against Shcks.

“The complainant and her family were not given the chance to comment on the motion to withdraw information, considering this is a rape case,” Castro said.

“What’s painful is the complainant did not even know  there was a motion to withdraw the the case,” added  DJ Jimenez, Castro’s colleague.

Jimenez said the Makati city prosecutor filed a motion to withdraw the case against Shcks on April 27 after the DFA said he had diplomatic immunity. On April 30, Judge Guanlao granted the motion and dismissed the case.

Shcks should also be considered  a consular official and not a diplomat, the lawyer added.  “If you are just a consular official, you have immunity only for minor offenses,” he added.