Kochi/New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS): A Kerala court Thursday extended by one week the police custody of two Italian Marines arrested for the killing of two Indian fishermen. Italy offered to cooperate, but said the weapons of the two arrested marines should be examined in their presence and underlined that the vessel was in international waters.
Italy's Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura 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 period for police interrogation 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.
A Kollam court Monday had permitted the police to search the Italian ship to seize the arms allegedly used by the two naval guards to shoot and kill the fishermen.
"We will cooperate for the ballistic examination, but we should also be present. Hope it will bring out justice," de Mistura told reporters after meeting the two marines at the CISF guest house at Wellington in Kochi Thursday morning.
The minister added that once the Italian vessel, now berthed in Kochi, was inspected, "our version will be proved right".
Mistura, however, reiterated that the firing incident took place in international waters and expressed sadness for the families of the dead fishermen. "We expressed regret."
"We stick to our stand that the vessel was in international waters when the incident took place. It was 22.5 nautical miles of Kollam coast," he said.
"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.
New Delhi has said that since the incident involved an attack on an Indian vessel, the accused should be tried under the Indian penal code.
India has not relented on Italy's demand that the case be taken out of a Kerala court. External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna said any decision on how to pursue the case against the two accused should be left to the Centre and Kerala government.
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 counsel for Italians also told the Kerala High Court on Thursday that the state police had no jurisdiction to investigate the Italian marines.
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. 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.