Manmohan unmoved by Italy's hard talk

PM tells his counterpart his govt will not interfere in legal proceedings

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday told his Italian counterpart Mario Monti that his government could in no way intervene in the legal proceedings involving two Indian fishermen’s death due to firing from MV Enrica Lexie, off the coast of Kerala last month.

Monti called up Singh to seek his intervention in resolving the dispute over the arrest and trial of the two Italian marines in connection with the incident in a court in Kerala. Rome also sought interventions from the European Union to talk to New Delhi to find a way out of the impasse.

Prime Minister is understood to have told his Italian counterpart that the case was  before a court of law and the executive never interferes in the functioning of the judiciary in India.

“Any attitude from the Indian side that is not fully in line with international law...risks creating a dangerous precedent for international peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions…missions in which Indian military are also involved,” a press-release issued by the Italian government in Rome quoted Monti telling Singh.

“The alleged incident – the circumstances of which still have to be clarified – occurred in international waters and jurisdiction is therefore only Italian,” Monti also told Singh, according to the Italian government’s statement.

Sources in New Delhi quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  reiterating that India did not share Italy’s views that the two Italian marines arrested for shooting the fishermen dead on February 15 last could not be tried under the Indian laws because they were assigned to protect MV Enrica Lexie in accordance with an Italian law and the vessel was sailing in international waters.

Italian Navy personnel – Lotorre Massimilano and Salvatore Girone – were arrested by Kerala Police on February 19 for allegedly opening fire at an Indian fishing vessel off the coast of Kerala from onboard MV Enrica Lexie, which was on its way from Singapore to Egypt, and killing two fishermen, Ajesh Binki, 25, and Jalastein, 45.

Rome pointed out that Massimilano and Girone were part of a Vessel Protection Detachment of Italian Navy and they were on board the ship in accordance with a law in Italy to protect it from the pirates.

But New Delhi conveyed it to Rome that Italian Navy’s Vessel Protection Detachment did “not have global sanctity in terms of international laws”.