Kircaoglu and Sanaga, Final Appeal Judgment, No 32960/2010; ILDC 1635 (IT 2010)

The Kircaoglu and Sanaga case (Italian Court of Cassation, first criminal section, Judgment of 8 September 2010, No. 32960) concerned the capture by the Italian military vessel of a ship flying the Turkish flag in waters beyond the Italian territorial sea. The vessel was suspected of smuggling people in violation of the Italian law on immigration. The capture of the vessel took place after a hot pursuit commenced, in the view of Italian authorities, when the foreign ship was within the Italian contiguous zone. In this judgment, the Court of cassation addressed the issue of a State\u2019s jurisdiction over the acts committed a foreign vessel in the contiguous zone. The Court held the view that Italy does not have jurisdiction over acts committed within its national contiguous zone by ships flying the flag of a State which is not a Contracting party of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 10 December 1982. The decision is of particular interest because of it sheds lights on issues such as whether a State can have a contiguous zone in the absence of a formal proclamation, and whether article 33 of UNCLOS on contiguous zone reflects a rule of general international law