Police in the nation’s capital say diplomatic immunity won’t keep them from investigating a “brutal attack” on “peaceful protesters” Tuesday by men believed to be bodyguards for visiting Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

Four international law experts, three of them former legal advisers at the State Department, tell U.S. News that if police identify the assailants, they may be able to make criminal charges stick, even if the men are on the Turkish government payroll.

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Stanford University law lecturer Allen Weiner says if he still was a State Department legal adviser he would recommend D.C. police pursue charges against the assailants if they were locally contracted security guards or men traveling with Erdogan for the visit.

Immunity provided to visiting heads of state and some members of their entourage “probably does not reach the security detail” traveling with a foreign leader, Weiner says.

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“You just have to figure out which box they are in,” Weiner says about permanent embassy or consular staff, which can be done by reviewing State Department records to determine how such workers are classified.

U.S. Marines stationed at The Hague in the Netherlands, Weiner says, do have absolute immunity. And if the Turkish guards even have limited immunity, it’s a “tricky question” about whether the attack on protesters would be deemed part of their diplomatic role.

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If any of the men enjoy diplomatic immunity, Weiner says, officials “could ask the Turkish government” to waive the immunity so the men could be prosecuted – though there’s no guarantee Turkey would agree, as the U.S. itself is reluctant to do the same.

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Stewart agrees with Weiner that embassy staff likely are immune from prosecution if they have diplomatic accreditation with the State Department. But he says “it is possible” members of Erdogan’s traveling entourage would have customary immunity if their names were provided in advance to the State Department.

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