Enrica Lexie
ROME – Italy has summoned the Indian ambassador to urge that India’s Supreme Court reach a decision before the year-end Christmas holiday to settle a dispute over where two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen should be tried.
The sailors, members of a military security team protecting the cargo ship Enrica Lexie from pirate attacks, fired on the fishermen’s boat off the Indian coast in February. Italian officials say the men mistook the fishermen for pirates.
The marines have been detained in India and Italy has challenged India’s right to try them.
It has taken its case to the Supreme Court in New Delhi, saying the shooting took place in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
Indian authorities accuse the sailors of killing unarmed fishermen in a “contiguous zone” where Indian law applies.
In a statement late on Thursday, Italy’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the ambassador to express its “profound surprise and concern” that the Indian Supreme Court had not ruled on the case three months after arguments ended.
The case has soured relations between Italy and India, with Rome insisting that Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone should be tried at home.
(Reporting By Catherine Hornby)
© 2012 Thomson Reuters.
This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.
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The Indian government will not prevent an ailing Italian marine facing murder charges from returning home for medical treatment, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
NATO warned India on Wednesday that using anti-terrorism legislation to try two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen would undermine international efforts to combat piracy.
Rome harshly criticized an Indian decision to try two Italian marines accused of killing two fisherman under an anti-piracy and anti-terrorism act, in a case that has strained relations between the two countries.
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