At the beginning of the week, it was reported that Finland and the United States have reached an agreement on the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA).
We explored the criminal liability of US soldiers and deployed civilians in host countries through examples.
The details of the Finnish agreement have not yet been announced. However, last year in Norway can be used as a point of comparison of the DCA agreement that entered into force formulations of criminal and civil liability.
The United States has concluded hundreds of DCA agreements around the world, some of them have been in force for decades.
Practical experience with problem situations has already been accumulated in these so-called station countries. The ugliest criminal cases have strained relations between the United States and the host country for a long time. The United States has been accused too lazy attitude towards crimes committed by own soldiers in partner countries.
We asked Emeritus Professor of International Law, an academic from Martti Koskenniemi and from the professor of international law at the University of Turku From Outi Korhosehow the Norwegian Treaty has organized the criminal process of US troops and civilian personnel.
According to Koskenniemi, the contracts are mostly similar, but they are not identical.
– Different countries have been able to come to an agreement with the United States for local reasons, also due to different regulations. For example, the agreements concluded with Spain and Estonia are completely different in scale, detail and content.
The main principle of defense cooperation agreements is that the United States applies to its own soldiers and their family members the laws of the United States. Since 1953, the Senate has required that treaties guarantee the country the widest possible criminal jurisdiction. The United States does not extradite its own citizens to countries where the crime has been committed.
Korhonen points out that the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court like the Nordic countries.
– The United States does not want their soldiers to be brought under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court through their stay in the territory of these states.
In Norway’s DCA agreement, there are several references to a military alliance to NATO’s SOFA agreement. The practice has been that in the SOFA agreement the host country gets extensive criminal jurisdiction over the sent personnel, but in the bilateral DCA agreement it gives up this power, Koskenniemi says.
This has also been done in the Norwegian agreement. First and foremost, US law is always followed.
1. Offenses in official duties
If a U.S. soldier commits a crime while on duty in Norway, the investigation of the crime will be handled by U.S. military authorities, and he or she will be tried in accordance with U.S. law and process in a military court.
The United States determines when a soldier is on duty or if the situation involves his safety. Family members are tried in a regular court.
During criminal cases, the suspect is primarily always in the possession of the US authorities, of course this can also be negotiated. The countries’ authorities are cooperating in the investigation.
– When it comes to security issues, the people of the United States are not very open to negotiating, or they like to keep complete decision-making power to themselves. Maybe this can happen if it’s a traffic violation, for example, and we look at whether it happened in the course of official duties or not, Professor Emeritus Koskenniemi states.
In 1998, the wing of the United States Marine Corps Prowler aircraft cut the cable of the cable car in Cavalese and the people in the chariot fell to the ground. 20 people died in the accident. According to the official investigation, the plane’s crew flew too low and high, endangering people’s lives.
The reckless crew wanted to be tried in Italy for manslaughter. However, the country’s court ruled that the case falls under US jurisdiction because the accident occurred in the course of official duties.
The military court acquitted the plane’s captain and navigator of criminal charges, but convicted them of lesser offenses.
In 2002, a US Army armored vehicle was returning from training at a base near Seoul. The vehicle hit two 14-year-old schoolgirls on a narrow road, who died.
South Korea sought to have the crew tried in the host country, but the United States refused because the act was not considered intentional. Acquitted by US military court on charges of manslaughter of the driver and commander of the vehicle.
2. Offenses during free time
If a US soldier commits a crime in Norway in his spare time, for example killing, assaulting or raping, even then the law of the United States will primarily apply.
However, in important cases, Norway can request within 30 days after receiving information that Norwegian law applies to the crime. After this, the United States and Norway will negotiate on the matter. Norway cannot sentence US soldiers or workers in absentia without their consent.
According to Professor Korhonen, the United States has a long-standing practice of trying to settle cases without going to court and settling with money.
– It is often agreed that they will repatriate the perpetrators of the crime and the matter will be dealt with in their own processes. Relatives are often dissatisfied when they have not been consulted or they have not been able to see whether justice is done or not.
In 1995, three US soldiers kidnapped and raped in Okinawa A 12-year-old girl.
The crime was widespread in Japan. The men were at the US base until charges were filed, despite Japan’s request to hand them over to the police.
Based on an agreement between the two countries, the soldiers were eventually tried in a local court under Japanese law. One of the men confessed to rape, the other two to helping.
The soldiers received years in prison and were sentenced to compensation.
Two American soldiers fought with a 28-year-old German man in the market in Wittlich in August 2023. The man died from the injuries he received in the stabbing.
Soldiers suspected of killing have been held by US military authorities since their capture at a nearby base, and the US is also handling a criminal investigation.
In addition to numerous rapes and beatings, the US soldiers in their spare time have, for example, driven a teenager to death while drunk and vandalized a culturally historically valuable monument.
3. Being a victim of a crime in the host country
If a US soldier or his family member is the victim of a crime in Norway, the country where the law applies depends on where the crime took place.
Norway has given the US troops the right to use and control the agreed land areas, where it can store supplies and weapons, for example.
If the crime takes place in the territory administered by the United States, the law of the United States applies, if in the territory of Norway, the law of Norway applies.
In 2001, a 19-year-old soldier who worked as a cook was found dead at the US base in Hanau. A pregnant woman had been strangled to death, but the crime remained unsolved.
Two decades later, in February of this year Arrested by US Federal Police at the same time, a man who served in the army, and he is accused of murdering a woman. The accused is no longer a soldier, so by law he can be tried in a civilian court in the United States.
In 2018, a Japanese woman stabbed to death an air war man who worked at the Yokota base. The death happened at the man’s apartment in Tokyo. A man and a woman in their thirties had been dating, but the man wanted to break up.
The woman had also found out that the soldier was married. A woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter in Japan.
4. Offenses by Civilians and Subcontracted Employees
In addition to soldiers, the United States also sends civilian personnel and contract personnel of subcontractors to the host country.
If they commit crimes on Norwegian soil, Norwegian law applies to them. However, in the Norwegian agreement, the United States has a broad right to define the status of the person to be sent. Of course, Norway can challenge this definition in cases of dispute, and the issue is being negotiated.
In 2016, a former Marine raped and killed a 20-year-old woman in Okinawa.
A man who worked as a civilian employee at a US airbase at the time of the crime was sentenced in a local court to life imprisonment.
5. Parking fines, speeding and financial disputes
In addition to criminal charges, US military personnel, their families and serving civilians, as well as subcontractor employees, may be involved in civil lawsuits.
For example, construction projects commissioned by the United States may become a financial dispute, soldiers and civilians sent to the host country may receive traffic or parking fines for their mistakes.
The station countries classify different things as crimes and misdemeanors, for which you get an administrative penalty similar to an error fee. The Norwegian treaty protects active-duty U.S. military personnel and paid civilians from administrative penalties and claims for damages.
According to Martti Koskenniemi, the possibility of filing a civil lawsuit against US military authorities or civilian personnel has been removed in the agreement.
– This lawsuit should be submitted to the Norwegian authorities, who are negotiating with the US authorities. Finally, a mediation procedure can be used to decide on the amount of compensation.
This limitation does not apply to US subcontractors or their employees.
However, the United States undertakes to report minor violations by soldiers to Norway, and their enforcement can be negotiated between the two countries.
No passports, visas, or local driver’s license are required for US military personnel, civilian hires, or subcontractor employees in Norway.
The United States, its military and civilians, and the subcontractors used also enjoy extensive tax exemptions in Norway. For example, no taxes are paid on the salary and fuel can be imported tax-free.
Bonus: Environmental pollution
Environmental issues have received little attention in the US-Norway defense cooperation agreement.
Who handles the cleaning if the United States in Norway managed areas become polluted as a result of use or an environmental accident occurs. Waste has been burned at US bases and toxic PFAS chemicals have been used to extinguish aircraft and vehicle fires.
Outi Korhonen says that the agreement gives the United States a free hand to act according to its own rules in the construction and use of the areas.
– In many countries, there have been disputes, for example, with environmental pollution and the demolition of structures. In practice, nothing is regulated about them.
High concentrations of PFAS have been found in the groundwater and air around Futenma and Kadena bases in Okinawa, Japan.
In Germany, on the other hand, the PFAS concentrations in the river water near the Ramstein base have exceeded the EU limit values many times over in the measurements.