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Diplomat charged with UK murder
LONDON, England -- A diplomat at the Colombian Embassy in London has been charged with murder after Bogota agreed to waive his immunity. Jairo Soto-Mendoza, a 44-year-old army sergeant, was charged on Friday with the May killing of Damian Broom of Britain, police said. Broom, a 23-year-old warehouse man and father of one, died in a scuffle outside a Tesco store at Greenford, west London, on May 21. Senior British politicians, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, had campaigned for Colombia to lift diplomatic immunity for Soto-Mendoza and his 23-year-old son. Colombian Ambassador Victor Ricardo said in a statement: "The Colombian government trusts that the British authorities will ensure that the due process of law is carried out in order for the investigation to be conducted with full transparency and justice." UK Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane said on Thursday that he had been told by the Colombian ambassador that his government had finally agreed to waive diplomatic immunity. "I welcome the decision following representations made to the highest level of the Colombian government," he said. Blair raised the issue with Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe during his visit to Downing Street in July. Diplomatic immunity grants members of overseas diplomatic missions freedom from legal proceedings in the UK as part of the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964. The amount of immunity given to an individual depends on their status as certified by the British secretary of state. A member of a mission's diplomatic staff is entitled to complete criminal immunity and to civil immunity, except for actions relating to some private activities. Administrative or technical staff have full criminal immunity, but civil immunity relates only to acts performed during official duties. The criminal and civil immunity for domestic staff is limited to their official duties.
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