Italy protests jailing of Italian marines in India

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi summoned India's ambassador in Rome to tell him that the Italian government considers measures taken by the Indian judiciary to jail two Italian marines to be "illegitimate." The diplomatic row between Rome and New Delhi began in mid-February when the two marines, deployed as guards on the oil tanker Enrica Lexie, were detained for allegedly shooting dead two Indian fishermen - Gelastine, 45, and Ajesh Binki, 25 - off the coast of Kerala, after apparently mistaking them for pirates, according to Germany News Agency (dpa). Terzi also told Ambassador Debrabata Saha that a decision by Indian authorities to ease the prison conditions of the two marines, following the intervention of an Italian undersecretary, was still "not satisfactory," the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Rome. On Monday a tribunal in Kollam ordered that the marines - Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone - be held in prison pending the results of an investigation. The Italian government described the decision as "unacceptable." Subsequently, Italian Undersecretary Staffan de Mistura, who is in India to try to resolve a stand-off over the case, obtained a concession so that the marines will not to be kept in cells with other convicts, as initially ordered by the tribunal, but in a separate building on the grounds of the prison. Terzi asked Saha "to transmit to the government of New Delhi and the authorities of the state of Kerala, the very strong concern," in Italy over "the climate of tension and the strong anti-Italian sentiments that can be registered in India" and in particular in Kerala. "Such a climate risks seriously prejudicing a judicial process (against the two marines) which, in any case, Italy dose not recognize as legitimate due to a lack of jurisdiction," over the case by Indian authorities, the statement said. Italy maintains the incident occurred in international waters and thus outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. It has also protested against the decision by Indian authorities to exclude Italian experts from ballistics tests being held to determine whether the fishermen were killed by guns used by the two marines.