Italy Dismisses Case Against Marines Over Murder Of Indian Fishermen

The Supreme Court docket had quashed the Italian marines circumstances in June final yr. (File)

Rome:

A Rome decide on Monday dismissed a homicide investigation into two Italian marines who killed two fishermen in Kerala in 2012, months after the case was dropped by the Supreme Court docket of India.

In a press release, Italian Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini welcomed the “constructive consequence” for Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre.

Information companies stated it adopted an evaluation by prosecutors final month that there was not sufficient proof for a trial.

“This brings to an finish a years-long occasion throughout which the defence ministry has by no means left the 2 marines and their households on their very own,” Guerini stated.

Girone and Latorre shot lifeless the unarmed fishermen off the southern Indian coast in February 2012 whereas defending an Italian oil tanker as a part of an anti-piracy mission.

After a authorized saga that has dogged relations between Rome and New Delhi for nearly a decade, India in April 2021 accepted a compensation provide of Rs 100 million (Rs 10 crore).

Quashing the case in June, the Supreme Court docket had dominated that Rs 40 million (Rs 4 crore) every can be given to the households and the remaining Rs 20 million (Rs 2 crore) to the proprietor of the boat utilized by the fishermen.

Nevertheless it stated that the Italian authorities should begin prison proceedings in opposition to the 2 marines below its jurisdiction instantly and that the Indian authorities would offer proof within the case.

Italy had argued the marines have been in worldwide waters and had fired on the fishing boat as a result of it did not heed warnings to remain away.

India known as it a “double homicide at sea” and arrested and charged Girone and Latorre — members of Italy’s elite San Marco Marine regiment — with murder.

Italy in 2015 took the case to the Everlasting Court docket of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, which dominated final yr that the marines have been entitled to immunity.

In 2016, the identical tribunal allowed Girone, who had been holed up within the Italian embassy in New Delhi, to return to Italy. Latorre had already returned residence two years earlier for remedy after a stroke.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)