Enrica Lexie News

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.

Vessel sales for June 2014 (as of September 1) as prepared by Shipping Intelligence, Inc., New York.

With the 100 Series Rules for the Use of Force attracting considerable attention from the key stakeholders in the industry. Adam Swierczewski, Corporate and Legal Affairs Manager of the leading Maritime Security Company, Ambrey Risk, has made observations from the Industry perspective. The 100 Series is said to be designed to ‘alleviate uncertainty’* and provide ‘clear legal basis for acts of self-defense’*. At the moment individual Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSCs) submit their Rules for the Use of Force (RUF) to flag states as a part of the flag state approval process.

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.

Agreeing that Italian ship Enrica Lexie is not the “object of crime”, the Supreme Court has allowed the detained vessel to leave Indian waters and continue with its voyage nearly three months after two marines on board allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen, mistaking them for pirates, reports 'The Indian Express'. A Bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale passed the order freeing the ship after the vessel’s owners and Italian government assured the court that they would secure the presence of six crew members and four remaining marines as and when required by any Indian court or lawful authority for investigation or trial. The marines, of course, have the right to contest any such summons before a competent court in India, the court clarified.

The Supreme Court warned that an Italian ship involved in the killings of two fishermen would not be allowed to sail off the Kerala coast unless there was an assurance that marines and other staff, who were witnesses in the case, would be produced as and when required during the trial in the case, according to a Deccan Herald news report. A bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale allowed the Italy government to clarify its stand by Wednesday morning in this regard. “If you don’t assure us, it is simple, we can’t allow the ship to go otherwise,” the bench told senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Republic of Italy.

The recent incident involving the MV Enrica Lexie off the coast of India highlights the increasing carriage on merchant vessels of armed security guards (whether military personnel or private contractors) to ward off attacks by pirates and robbers. I will not speculate as to what may have occurred on board the tanker or on the fishing vessel where two individuals unfortunately lost their lives. Suffice it to say that this is a tragic incident for all involved. The International…

Nearly six weeks after marines on board the Enrica Lexie allegedly killed two fishermen, mistaking them for pirates, the Kerala High Court has cleared the decks for Italian tanker Enrica Lexie to leave Kochi if the ship's owners furnished a bond of Rs 3 crore, according to a report in the Times of India newspaper. The High Court also directed Dolphin Tankers, Enrica's owners, to furnish an undertaking that the ship, which has been detained off Cochin port since February 15, would be produced before any competent authority in India on a notice of three weeks. The Italian marines, however, were still under arrest, pending further hearings of the trial.