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Italy-Indian Row: Marines Return To India For Trial
BBC NEWS, EUROPE
March 22, 2013: Two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen have returned to Delhi for trial, Indian officials have said, as diplomatic tensions ease. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone landed in an Italian military plane, accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura. India had allowed them to travel to Italy to vote in last month's election. When they failed to return, India's Supreme Court ruled Italy's ambassador was barred from leaving the country.
"We have a valuable relationship with Italy," Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said. He said that the fact that the incident "did not derail our relationship, and that things are back on track and are normal is a matter of satisfaction".
In a statement to parliament, Mr Khurshid said that Italian requests "for diplomatic or expert level meetings" to consider the issue of jurisdiction in the case - "or whether it can be referred to arbitration or any other judicial mechanism cannot be accepted".
"I have made it clear that the Republic of Italy is bound to honor the solemn commitment that it has made to the Supreme Court to ensure the return of the marines to India within the time period permitted by the Supreme Court," he said.
The foreign minister said that the case does "not fall in the category of matters which attract the death penalty" and "there need not be any apprehension in this regard".
Marines Latorre and Girone are accused of shooting the fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012. They had been guarding an Italian oil tanker and said they mistook the fishermen for pirates.
