Spanish driver who ate hash cakes claims diplomatic immunity from non-existent state
A Spanish man who had eaten hash cakes before he was pulled over by police for driving erratically has been fined €2,001 (£1,680) after failing to convince officers he had immunity because he was a diplomat for an “individual and mobile” republic.
Earlier this month, Guardia Civil officers in the northern Spanish region of La Rioja ordered the 28-year-old to pull over after noticing that his Volkswagen Golf was zigzagging across the road and that he was on his mobile.
“Once the vehicle had been intercepted, the officers asked the driver for his identity documents, to which he responded by showing a driving licence and ID card from the ‘Errant Republic of Menda Lerenda’,” the force said in a statement.
Although the “republic” bills itself online as “an individual and mobile sovereignty recognised by other states capable of acting with complete independence in strict compliance with international law”, the officers were not impressed by his documents or his claims of diplomatic immunity.
“The driver ignored repeated requests to show credible identification and began to show the officers a lack of respect,” the statement continued. “He claimed to have immunity on the grounds that he was a member of the sovereign diplomatic service of the aforementioned republic.”
After being subjected to a drug test, the man tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, and told the officers “it was due to the marijuana madeleines he had eaten”. Further checks revealed that the car’s ITV (the Spanish equivalent of the MOT) had expired.
The driver had nine points docked from his licence and was fined €601 for disobeying the police and providing false or inaccurate information, €1,000 for drug-driving, €200 for driving while on the phone, and another €200 for failing to have a valid ITV. His car was also impounded.
It is not the first time people have used Menda Lerenda IDs to try to avoid legal problems. In October 2020, a man wanted for traffic offences was arrested after showing officers in the north-west Galicia region a Menda Lerenda driving licence before attempting to flee.
A few months later, another man in the same region produced a Menda Lerenda ID when stopped during a rou
tine Covid check. He was taken to a police station, where it emerged that he was wanted by the authorities for refusing to send his children to school.
According to its website, the Republic of Errant Menda Lerenda is a micronation, officially proclaimed in 1999, that defines an individual person as an independent republic in themselves and recognises their national territory as the space they occupy at “each moment”.
Certified identification as a sovereign republic can be bought online for €76.25 (£64).