Khobragade
"On
Watchlist,"
But US Let
French Dip
Serman Return
as Consul
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up on
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 10 --
Following
yesterday's US
indictment of
Indian
diplomat
Devyani
Khobragade for
underpaying a
domestic
worker,
US State
Department
spokesperson
Jen Psaki
today said
that Khobragade
was told that
if she applies
for another
visa to the
US, her name
would be
placed on a
watch list.
Back
in 2011,
though, Inner
City Press uncovered
and
exclusively
reported
on the case of
a French
diplomat,
Romain Serman,
who after
assaulting
a New York
Police
Department
officer while
allegedly
buying cocaine
was allowed to
leave the
country before
any
indictment. See story
here, arrest report here.
It seems clear
that Serman
was NOT placed
on any watch
list, because
he not only
returned to
the US -- he
is now
France's
consul in San
Francisco.
While
it may be
debatable if
assaulting a
police officer
when being
arrested for
cocaine
purchase is
more or less
serious than
allegedly
underpaying a
domestic
worker, the
disparity in
US treatment
between
the French and
Indian and
French
diplomat
cannot be
missed.
The
Indian
diplomat was
arrested,
booked and
stripped
searched,
indicted and
told she'd be
put on a visa
watch list.
The French
diplomat
Romain Serman
was allowed to
quietly leave
the country
without any
indictment,
and was
allowed to
return, as
consul.
Usually
the
agreement upon
being allowed
to leave the
US in this way
is that
the person
will not come
back to the
US. But,
amazingly,
Romain
Serman came
back to the US
-- as France's
consul in San
Francisco, still.
When
Inner City
Press reported
this, the then
spokesperson
of the French
mission
demanded that
Inner City
Press remove
the story from
the
Internet.
As with stories
on Sri Lanka
that the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association
demanded be
taken down
from the
Internet
or Inner City
Press face
expulsion,
Inner City
Press refused.
The
French
spokesperson
called this a
"hostile act"
(Inner City
Press
countered that
it was an act
of journalism)
and things
proceeded
from there.
This
becomes even
more relevant
now in light
of reports not
only of the
disparity in
indictment of
Khobragade
versus none
for the French
Serman, but of
US State
Department
spokesperson
Psaki's
comments today
about being
put on a watch
list.
Back in April
2011, Inner
City Press
asked
spokespeople
at the US
Mission to the
UN and then
Mark Toner at
the State
Department,
"Was the State
Department
aware of
Serman's
arrest record
when he
re-entered in
2010, and how
does
applicable law
and precedent
allow this?"
And
we're still
waiting for a
response, as
we are to FOIA
requests
pending at the
State
Department.
Soon the new
Free UN
Coalition for
Access will
have to get on
this case.
Watch this
site.
, 
