India's Modi at EU Summit Wants to Defuse Row Over Italian Marine
India blamed Italy for delaying the repatriation of an Italian marine who has been detained in Delhi for four years as Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi arrived at a summit with the EU in Brussels hoping to defuse the long-running row. In 2012, India arrested two Italian marines who were escorting an oil tanker on suspicion of shooting dead two fishermen they mistook for pirates. Though they were not charged, the pair were barred from leaving India. Massimiliano Latorre was allowed to return home last year for medical treatment. But Salvatore Girone has been confined to Delhi, where he lives at the Italian ambassador's residence and reports regularly to police.
Maritime Tribunal Rejects Plea to Free Italy's Marines
An international maritime tribunal on Monday rejected Italy's request that India provisionally release two marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen, a setback for the Italian government after a three-year legal battle. However the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg also ordered India to suspend legal action against the two Italian marines, saying an international arbitration hearing to be held in The Hague must rule on the dispute. Rome objects to holding a trial in India, arguing that the case should be taken to arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that the incident happened in international waters where national laws do not apply. The Indian government wants Indian courts to try the case.
India Drops Anti-piracy Charges against Italian Marines
India has dropped a plan to prosecute two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen under a tough anti-piracy law, a government lawyer said on Monday, offering a chance to end a diplomatic row between the two countries. Italy had strongly opposed India invoking the law, arguing that it would amount to treating the men as "terrorists" and last week it recalled its ambassador to New Delhi in protest against the delay in the two-year-old case. The sailors, part of a military security team protecting a privately-owned cargo ship, say they mistook the fishermen for pirates and fired warning shots into the water during the incident in February 2012, off the coast of Kerala state.
Italian Ship's Military Security Guards Bailed by Indian Court
According to Reuters an Indian court has granted bail to two Italian marines charged with the murder of two Indian fishermen in a case that has caused a major diplomatic rift between Rome and New Delhi. The two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, were ordered not to leave the port city of Kochi, in the western state of Kerala, while awaiting trial. They will be freed once they each pay bail of 10 million rupees, about $200,000. No date has been set for trial but it is expected to start soon. The sailors were part of a military security team protecting the cargo ship Enrica Lexie from pirate attacks when they opened fire on the fishermen's boat off the coast of Kerala on Feb. 15. Italian officials say the men mistook the fishermen for pirates.
