Italian Navy marines will not be prosecuted in India for killing Kerala fishermen; Rome to give compensation to New Delhi

International arbitral tribunal rules that Italy breached India's freedom of navigation

The Italian Navy personnel, Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, will not be prosecuted or punished in India, although they had killed two fishermen from Kerala in the Arabian Sea eight years ago.

Rome, however, will have to pay compensation to New Delhi as firing by Latorre and Girone had resulted in the death of two citizens of India.

An international arbitral tribunal ruled that the Italian Navy personnel had breached India’s freedom of navigation guaranteed under Articles 87(1) (a) and 90 of the United Nations Convention on Laws of Sea (UNCLOS) by firing upon and killing the fishermen on February 15, 2012.

The fishermen, Ajesh and Valentine, had been sailing on a fishing boat “St Anthony”, when they had been fired upon by Latorre and Girone. The Italian Navy personnel had been deployed onboard the MV Enrica Lexie to guard the ship. They had mistaken Ajesh and Valentine to be pirates and shot them dead.

A tribunal set up under the Annex VII of the UNCLOS and based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague observed that India and Italy had concurrent jurisdiction over the incident and a valid legal basis to institute criminal proceedings against the Italian Navy personnel. It rejected Italy’s claim to compensation from India for detention of Latorre and Girone, who had been arrested by Kerala Police after the Indian Coast Guard had intercepted the ship and made it dock at the Kochi Port.

It, however, found that the immunities enjoyed by Latorre and Girone as state officials operated “as an exception to the jurisdiction” of the courts in India and, hence, “preclude them to judge” the two Italian Navy marines, Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, stated on Thursday. He was briefing the media-persons on the award of the arbitral tribunal which was set up on June 26, 2015.

The arbitral tribunal decided that India was 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 “St. Antony". It held that New Delhi and Rome would “consult with each other with a view to reaching agreement on the amount of compensation Italy would pay to India.

The tribunal also decided that it should retain jurisdiction, should India or Italy or both wish to apply for a ruling from it in respect of the quantum of compensation. It took note of the Italian Government’s commitment to resume its criminal investigation into the incident.

The incident and the subsequent detention and trial of the Italian Navy personnel in India had emerged as a major irritant in relations between New Delhi and Rome.

Italy finally moved the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague against India in June 2015.

The arbitral tribunal had in May 2016 asked the two governments to approach the Supreme Court of India to allow Girone, who had already been on bail and had been staying in the Embassy of Italy in New Delhi, to go home. Latorre had already been in Italy since September 2014 after the Supreme Court had allowed him to go to his country for a surgery.