BRONX, New York (A.W.)— The wife of an Azerbaijani diplomat walked away free after she was caught using a baby stroller to shoplift from a Bronx department store, reported New York Daily News.
The wife of an Azerbaijani diplomat walked away from a shoplifting charge at a Bronx Marshalls, on Grand Concourse. (Noonan Jeanne/New York Daily News)
A security guard at the Marshalls in Fordham caught Mehriban Jabrayilov trying to leave the store with $188.88 worth of items in a bag stuffed into the bottom of a baby stroller on April 25, read the report.
Jabrayilov told the officers who were called to the store that she was married to Azerbaijan’s First Secretary Farid Jabrayilov and has diplomatic immunity.
Police then confirmed her identity and her diplomatic immunity and released her. Diplomatic immunity also extends to spouses of diplomats.
According to the report, the New York Police Department contacts the State Department in such cases. The State Department has the ability to revoke a diplomat’s immunity and can seek a waiver of immunity to allow for persecution.
“This did not happen,” her husband told the Daily News. “Sorry, but I did not know about this,” he added when pressed. A manager at Marshalls declined to comment.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Azerbaijani Diplomat’s Wife Avoids Shoplifting Charge through Diplomatic Immunity