New Delhi: An international court on Monday suspended all judicial proceedings against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012 in a setback to India’s efforts as Italy has neither carried any investigation into the case nor initiated any legal action.
The 21-member International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered a split 15-6 verdict, directing Italy and India to suspend all court proceedings and report compliance by September 24.
ITLOS is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention.
“Prescribes, pending a decision by the Annex VII arbitral tribunal… Italy and India shall both suspend all court proceedings and shall refrain from initiating new ones which might aggravate or extend the dispute submitted to the Annex VII arbitral tribunal or might jeopardize or prejudice the carrying out of any decision which the arbitral tribunal may render,” Judge Vladimir Golitsyn, president of the Hamburg-headquartered tribunal, said in the order.
A former Indian legal expert P Chandrasekhara Rao was amongst the six members of the tribunal who dissented. In his dissenting note, judge Rao said though the tribunal appeared to have directed its verdict to both parties, “it is actually addressed only to India”.
“The measure prescribed by the tribunal, in this case, is entirely one-sided and is not well-founded in law,” he said.
Italy had invoked the arbitration procedure under a UN convention before the ITLOS and asked for a halt to all proceedings in India pending decision by it. It had asked the tribunal to order India to withdraw restrictions on the movement of the two marines, Sergeant Massimiliano Latorre and Sergeant Salvatore Girone, and not exercise its jurisdiction over the case till the procedure is completed, The Hindustan Times reported.
Sergeant Latorre is already in Italy on health grounds and authorised to stay there until January 15, 2016. Sergeant Girone, on the other hand, lives in the residence of the Italian ambassador in New Delhi.
“How can Italy argue that there is a situation of urgency regarding Sergeant Girone as of 21 July 2015 when he had unilaterally withdrawn a petition in the Supreme Court for the relaxation of his bail in December 2014?” asked Rao.
Enrica Lexie
Latorre and Girone were part of the six-member contingent of Italian marines on board the oil tanker Enrica Lexie that was on its way from Galle in Sri Lanka to Djibouti in Africa.
The marines, according to Italy, fired warning shots into the water near the Indian fishing craft St Antony that seemed to be headed for a collision with Enrica Lexie, a tactic used by pirates. Besides, since the incident involved navigation of a ship bearing an Italian flag, only Italy had jurisdiction to probe the incident, it said.
Italy’s counsel Daniel Bethlehem while objecting to India’s charge that the marines were murderers had said that it cannot be accepted that the fatal shooting took place from the Enrica Lexie. Bethlehem had said there were other vessels in the area at the time and other reports of pirate attacks.
India, however, pointed out that the marines used their automatic weapons against the fishermen without any warning, the fishing boat wasn’t the kind that pirates used and there is no explanation from Italy as to how the two fishermen ended up in body bags: one was shot in the head and the other, in his stomach.
New Delhi also pointed that since the fishing boat did not touch the Enrica Lexie tanker by any account, the incident involved the Indian boat, and not the Italian tanker.