Inspired by this thread on a Spanish judge’s recent warrant to arrest three U.S. soldiers accused of killing a Spanish journalist in Baghdad: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340572&page=1&pp=50
The case is based on a Spanish law giving the courts jurisdiction over homicide of a Spanish citizen if the host country fails to prosecute. Some commentators go further and call it an instance of “universal jurisdiction.” Let’s debate that.
Under what circumstances, if any, does a state’s government or its court system have legitimate jurisdiction to prosecute crimes alleged to have been committed outside the state’s territory?
Did the UK courts have proper jurisdiction over Augusto Pinochet?
Did the U.S. have the authority to arrest and prosecute Manuel Noriega?
Did the State of Israel have the right to arrest (or kidnap) Adolf Eichmann in a foreign country without the permission of its government, and then try him for crimes committed in other countries before the State of Israel even existed?
Is the authority of international bodies any more far-reaching? E.g., the trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – was that a legitimate exercise of authority?