Indian Supreme Court to allow Salvatore Girone to return to Italy right away
The Italian marine had been held in India for four years. He could go home in a few days. The court accepted his application on humanitarian grounds. He is involved in the Enrica Lexie case in which two Indian fishermen were mistaken for pirates and shot dead. The court has set four conditions for his release, which he must respect or risk going back to India.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – India’s Supreme Court this morning ruled that Italian Marine Salvatore Girone may return to Italy right away. He had been held in India for the past four years on charges of killing two Kerala fishermen.
In its ruling, India’s top court heeded the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which earlier this month ruled that both Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, can wait in Italy for the outcome of international arbitration over which country has jurisdiction in the case.
Justices P C Pant and D Y Chandrachud accepted the marine’s application on humanitarian grounds. Latorre is already in Italy on health grounds after he suffer a brain stroke in 2014 in New Delhi.
For years, the case has pitted the courts of India and Italy in a tug of war. The case dates back to 15 February 2012 when the two marines, who were on board Italy-flagged commercial oil tanker MV Enrica Lexie working as security guards, shot and killed two Indian fishermen, Valentine Jelastine e Ajesh Binki, off the Kerala coast after they mistook their fishing boat for a pirate ship.
In India, the legal case has gone through various phases. Initially handled by a Kerala court, the case went to the Supreme Court in January 2013 to determine which country, India or Italy, had jurisdiction over the case. Since then India’s top court has repeatedly postponed ruling on the matter after the investigation was turned over to India’s anti-terrorism agency, a decision that court itself later overturned.
In 2014, the Supreme Court allowed Massimiliano Latorre to return to Italy to convalesce after he suffered a brain stroke.
Finally, in August last year, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg ordered India and Italy to suspend court proceedings, noting that the final decision belongs to the PCA in The Hague.
Whilst the issue is not solved for the two governments, for the victims’ families, the matter is over. Dora Jelastine, Valentine Jelastine’s widow, recently said that she "had nothing against the marines’ release, and that she would not insist for them to be convicted and punished."
The Supreme Court imposed four conditions on the marine for his release. First, he has to report to a police station in Italy on the first Wednesday of every month and the Italian Embassy has to notify the Indian Embassy in Rome of it. He cannot tamper with any evidence nor influence any witness in the case. Thirdly, he is still under the jurisdiction of Supreme Court. Lastly, if found violating any of the other conditions, his bail would be cancelled.
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