Italy marines case: ‘India is entitled to compensation’
NEW DELHI: A UN court ruled on Thursday that India is entitled to compensation in connection with the 2012 killing of two crew members of a fishing boat off the coast of Kerala by Italian marines guarding an oil tanker, an incident that had taken bilateral ties to an all-time low.
But, at the same time, the fivemember arbitral tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) decided by three votes to two that the marines are entitled to immunity in relation to their acts during the incident and that “India is precluded from exercising its jurisdiction” over them. “India has taken note of the [tribunal’s] award and will be in touch with relevant entities on the matter,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly media briefing. The tribunal began hearing the case after Italy contended in December 2015 that India violated the rights and immunity of the marines – Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone – by detaining them. Italy also argued that India violated its exclusive right to institute penal proceedings against the marines under UNCLOS.
The two marines, accused of killing fishermen Ajesh Binki and Valentine Jalastine, crew members of the fishing boat St Anthony, were granted conditional bail by India’s Supreme Court and allowed to return to Italy in 2014 and 2016.
The tribunal upheld the conduct of Indian authorities during the incident under the provisions of UNCLOS and held that the actions of the Italian marines breached India’s freedom of navigation under the convention.
The tribunal unanimously ruled that India is “entitled to payment of compensation in connection with loss of life, physical harm, material damage to property...and moral harm suffered by the captain and other crew members of the ‘St. Antony’, which by its nature cannot be made good through restitution”.