6 MEDVEDYEV AND OTHERS v. FRANCE JUDGMENT Considering that the applicants wrongly suggest in this case that in keeping with the traditional rule codified in Article 92 of the Montego Bay Convention, the authority of a State on ships on the high seas flying its flag is both full and exclusive and that coercion may be used to ensure that the rules of international law and the State’s own law are respected as Article 108 of that Convention, on ‘Illicit traffic in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances’, stipulates: 1. All States shall cooperate in the suppression of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances engaged in by ships on the high seas contrary to international conventions. 2. Any State which has reasonable grounds for believing that a ship flying its flag is engaged in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances may request the cooperation of other States to suppress such traffic. Considering that, based on that text and ‘with reference’ to the earlier United Nations Convention of 30 March 1961 against international drug trafficking, the French authorities were within their rights to request Cambodia’s cooperation with a view to obtaining that country’s authorisation to intercept the Winner in order to put a stop to the drug trafficking in which all or part of its crew was suspected of being involved; that as the provisions of the Vienna Convention do not apply to Cambodia, it was for that State to ask the French authorities for all the relevant information concerning the alleged drug trafficking to enable it to assess the merits of the request using its unfettered discretion; that the diplomatic telegram sent by the French embassy on 7 June 2002, which actually mentions the reasoned request submitted by the OCRTIS, suffices to establish the existence of an agreement given without restrictions or reservations by the government of Cambodia for the planned interception and all its consequences, and is authoritative until proven otherwise; that on this point the applicants cannot contend that the document does not meet the formal requirements of Article 17 § 3 of the Vienna Convention concerning bilateral agreements between parties, when they are also arguing that the Vienna Convention is not applicable to Cambodia because it has not signed it; and that the value of the diplomatic document is not affected by the fact that the accused did not know the exact status of the person who signed the message or the person who transmitted the Cambodian government’s agreement to the French embassy. Considering, on the other hand, that in proceeding to intercept the Winner it was the duty of the French authorities to comply with the procedures provided for both in the Vienna Convention signed by France – in particular to ‘take due account of the need not to endanger the safety of life at sea, the security of the vessel and its cargo’ – and in the Law of 15 July 1994, as amended by the Law of 29 April 1996 adapting French law to Article 17 of the Vienna Convention, Articles 12 et seq. of which define the sphere of competence of commanders of naval vessels and the procedures for the search, reporting, prosecution and judgment in the French courts of drug trafficking offences committed at sea. Considering that the reports drawn up by the commander of the Lieutenant de vaisseau Le Hénaff, duly authorised by the maritime prefect for the Atlantic, which are authoritative until proven otherwise, state that when the frigate drew within sight of the Winner, off the Cape Verde islands, the merchant ship was flying no flag and its captain not only failed to answer the requests to identify his ship, in breach of the rules of international law, and to stop his ship, but responded aggressively with a series of dangerous manoeuvres that jeopardised the safety of the French frigate and