A former Guatemalan prosecutor and human rights Ombudsman are living in Washington D.C. with Red Notices from Interpol. The U.S. has no interest in assisting on sending them back for prosecution as they brought incriminating government documents here to the FBI against the former president. But, they need to be prosecuted for their own crimes. Can a citizen's arrest against an Interpol fugitive fly in D.C.?
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2 Answers
A citizen's arrest is permitted only in cases where the citizen witnesses the crime that is the basis of the arrest taking place, or is asked by a law enforcement officer to assist the law enforcement officer in making the arrest. As a rule of thumb, the law enforcement officer needs to be close enough to handcuff and carry away the person being arrested at their request once the citizen grabs the suspect.
A citizen cannot arrest someone, without the direction of a law enforcement officer to do so, on the basis of an outstanding warrant for the arrest of the individual who is arrested. See D.C. Code § 23-582.
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What if they are asked by a foreign law enforcement officer? Pretty sure the answer is no, but given the question involves international fugitives... Commented Aug 10 at 1:27
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8@nick012000 A foreign law enforcement officer who isn't credentialed as a law enforcement officer in the U.S. by the D.C. and/or federal government would have only the arrest powers of an ordinary U.S. citizen. Of course, the U.S. has violated those laws in other countries in the past and SCOTUS has said that this is O.K. Commented Aug 10 at 1:35
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@ohwillike What if the foreign law enforcement officer isn't present in the US at all? Commented Aug 10 at 1:37
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2@nick012000 The law enforcement officer must generally be in the physical presence or near proximity of the law citizen receiving direction. Commented Aug 10 at 1:39
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14@nick012000: "Law enforcement officer" is defined in DC Code 23-501 and doesn't include foreign officers, nor even officers from another US state. Commented Aug 10 at 1:43
It's important to note that a Red Notice from Interpol is not an arrest warrant. It is a notice to the authorities that the person is wanted by another jurisdiction, not a directive to take action.
Interpol explain this themselves.
With this in mind, a citizen has no legal basis to make an arrest.
Interpol states:
INTERPOL cannot compel the law enforcement authorities in any country to arrest someone who is the subject of a Red Notice.
You ask:
Can a citizen's arrest against an Interpol fugitive
A red notice does not make someone an "interpol fugitive". Interpol is basically an information sharing organization. These are not like FBI most wanted lists or similar.
I don't know the details of the specific case you mention, but note that the description you give might well make someone a candidate for political refugee status, and quite possibly they would apply for such. Doing so would make them very hard to extradite until their application was resolved.
answered Aug 11 at 15:11
