SC suspends Italian marines’ trial
The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the trial of two Italian marines accused of killing Kerala fishermen following a UN tribunal’s recent order asking both the countries to suspend all proceedings in the case.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are alleged to have gunned down two fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012. Italy, which claims the incident happened in international waters, moved the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), saying India didn’t have the right to try the two men.
A bench headed by justice AR Dave issued the order after counsels for both the marines and the government requested “status quo” till the Hamburg-based UN tribunal gave its ruling on where the two men should be tried.
The court, however, turned down the marines’ plea to adjourn the case till ITLOS gave its decision. The matter will now be heard in the third week of January. India and Italy are to submit a compliance report to the tribunal by September 24.
In its deposition during a twoday hearing earlier this month, India accused Italy of abusing its judicial process and also said the European nation’s version of events was “misleading”. “The marines contest the allegation that they fired the shots that killed the unfortunate Indian fishermen,” Italy’s counsel Daniel Bethlehem had told the tribunal. ITLOS on August 24 asked the two countries to suspend all court proceedings, asking them to “refrain from ini- tiating new ones which might aggravate or extend the dispute”. The tribunal also rejected Italy’s request to free the men while they awaited the final ruling.
Girone stays in the Italian embassy in Delhi, while Latorre retur ned home on health grounds.
They moved the SC challenging National Investigation Agency’s jurisdiction to probe the case, especially after India dropped the anti-piracy charges against them.