Italians' police custody extended, Rome sticks to version


Kochi/New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) A Kerala court Thursday extended by oen week the police custody of two Italian Marines arrested for the killing of two Indian fishermen even as Italy maintained that the deaths took place in international waters and the Marines should not be tried in India.

Italy's Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura meanwhile voiced appreciation at the way the two Marines were being treated, but there was no end to the unprecedented diplomatic row between Rome and Delhi.

A court in Kollam extended the police custody of Marines Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone after police told the judge they needed more time to interrogate them.

Their three-day police custody expired Thursday. The next hearing will be Feb 28.

With the Italians agreeing to cooperate with the investigation, they are likely to be taken Friday to the cargo vessel Enrica Lexie, from where the Marines fired at the fishermen Feb 15 mistaking them to be pirates.

The weapon used in the shooting of Ajesh Binki and Gelastine is likely to be seized by police.

"We have expressed our appreciation in the manner in which they (Marines) have been treated," de Mistura told reporters in Kochi after meeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Kottayam.

A day earlier, he met Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur in New Delhi in a bid to defuse the row.

But the minister added that once the Italian vessel, now berthed in Kochi, was inspected, "our version will be proved right".

New Delhi has said that since the incident involved an attack on an Indian vessel, the accused should be tried under Indian law.

A petition was filed in the Kerala High Court on behalf of two Marines Wednesday seeking quashing of the murder charges filed against them in the trial court.

Appearing for the Italians in the high court, laywer Sunil Dutt told the judge that the incident took place in international waters and so the two men could only be tried in an international court.

The counsel told the court -- and the judge agreed -- that Italian officials should be present if the Marines were interrogated on board the ship.

The director general of prosecution T. Asaf Ali told the court that the weapon used for committing the crime was yet to be recovered from the ship.

He said their police custody should be extended as more investigation had to be carried out.

The court asked notices to be served on the central and state governments.

Meanwhile, the two sisters of the 25-year-old fisherman Ajesh Binki filed a petition in the high court demanding Rs.2 crore (around $400,000) as compensation.

The court asked the ship owner to increase the bank guarantee from Rs.2.5 million to Rs.5 million.

Gelastine's wife has filed a petition demanding a compensation of Rs.1 crore.

 


 

  

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Comment on this article

  • Satish Chandra, Toronto

    Fri, Feb 24 2012

    February 23, 2012: It is clear that Indian officials have no intention of bringing the Italian murderers to justice or destroy the dominance over India of Italy and other white countries. Indians must kill as many Italians and other white people in India as they can find, wherever they find them. They must attack the luxury guest house where they have kept the murderers and immediately kill the murderers. Burn the guest house down, if necessary.

    I wrote on February 21 '12: "The Additional Director General of Police who does not want "the killing of two innocent fishermen to affect our diplomatic ties with Italy" and so lodged the killers in a "three-star hospitality facility" and did not trouble the killers with any but the most perfunctory questioning or not even that was just being honest. This is what the Indian government's relationship to white countries is like. If they will not insult a white murderer in police custody for questioning with anything less than V.I.P. lodgings or with any questioning, will they insult him with a hanging or even a life sentence or a sentence of any length or any punishment at all? Since this man is representative of government officials in general, where will you find the investigators for this case or prosecutors and judges to try the accused? Is it not a certainty, then, that the accused will be let go regardless of their crime? I could try them, be both prosecutor and judge and will summarily sentence them to death. Rather than stage a charade of a trial, like the charade of questioning and investigation now, is it not better to summarily ute them? These are military men who committed an act of war against India and in war enemies are killed without a trial." A government is supposed to protect its citizens and since India's government does not protect them from whites, they must protect themselves.

    "The high court asked assistant solicitor-general P. Parameshwaran Nair to advise the Centre to work with the Italian authorities to resolve the matter" (Asian Age, February 24, 2012). Resolve a case of murder, which should lead to death sentences for the accused, by 'working with' the Italian authorities? Will the Italians agree to a death sentence for the accused? Is that how murder cases are resolved in India? This nigger blackie slave of a judge was saying a white foreigner cannot be tried as a murder accused in India and shutting out any possibility of justice in the case by foreclosing any possibility of a death sentence. He was also committing the gravest kind of obstruction of justice by asking the assistant solicitor-general to advise the Centre as above and the crime of trashing India's sovereignty in the process which he is required to uphold.

    Satish Chandra

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