Indictment as Capture Authorization

When states leverage domestic criminal indictments as the public legal authorization for cross‑border seizures, they create a new operational precedent that substitutes prosecutorial power for multilateral norms. That precedent lowers the diplomatic and legal cost of unilateral captures and shifts how democracies justify force abroad. — If normalized, this converts routine criminal law into a geopolitical tool with implications for sovereignty, alliance trust, and domestic oversight of the executive.