| This is one reason why political crimes are treated with different considerations under international treaties and in the day to day norms of states. The right to asylum, for example, in one country to avoid prosecution in another country exists, and it is regularly exercised. America regularly support people who are charged with normal crimes that have obvious political undertones, as they should. This is an unmitigated good. Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Guangcheng Other popular examples exist. These cases are also often very polarizing for the people of the country who is claimed to have been the victim of some political crime. Note the definition of political crime (
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/political%20crime ) exactly makes the link: “political offenses … exclude any possibility of extradition.” What makes up a political crime? By definition it can be subjective but some entire categories are usually included. On the one hand, Assange is considered by many to be a journalist doing journalistic things, while others argue he committed espionage doing political things as some kind of spy. Prosecution for either is usually considered a political persecution worthy of asylum. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum because of the U.S. investigation into Assange for his publications that were in the public interest. |