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I think it's pretty common, in fact. The idea is to prevent interested parties from abusing the legal system in order to prevent members of government from performing their responsibilities or gain leverage on them.

That's just while Congress is physically in session (another use for the filibuster...?). Search "Larry Craig" or "Luis Gutierrez" for some recent arrests of American representatives.

Right, which is why the Pirate party is doing it as part of their official political activities.

I think we'd quickly have an interesting court case in the US if a political party cited this as their defense for carrying out a criminal conspiracy during a session of Congress. After all, that clause only addresses what can happen during the session.