Italian marines remain in Indian custody over fishermen deaths

Feb 22, 2012, 13:30 GMT

New Delhi - Junior foreign ministers from India and Italy on Wednesday failed to resolve a spat over the detention of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen.

The marines on the oil tanker Enrica Lexie allegedly fired at the fishermen off the coast of Kerala state on February 15, apparently mistaking them for pirates. The marines were taken into custody on Sunday.

Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Staffan De Mistura met Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur in New Delhi to negotiate the release of the guards. But India insisted the marines had to be subject to Indian law.

De Mistura expressed 'terrible sadness' over the killings, but maintained the incident took place in international waters, implying India had no jurisdiction over the case.

'As far as the legal point is going, they have their interpretation, we have our interpretation,' Kaur told reporters after the meeting. 'So as far as we are concerned, we will go by our law.'

'There is no agreement. The agreement is that the law will take its own course,' she said, adding that India's 'very fair and free judiciary' will take the right decision.

In Kerala, Italian authorities argued that the Kerala High Court should quash the complaint charging the marines with murder, broadcaster NDTV reported. The marines could receive the death sentence if convicted.

The petition argued that Kerala police had no authority to conduct investigations in the case and courts in India had no jurisdiction as the incident occurred beyond the country's territorial waters.

The court, meanwhile, admitted a petition by the family of one of the fishermen, Gelastine, seeking more than 200,000 dollars in compensation.

De Mistura was due to meet the victims' families in the city of Kochi, where protests have broken out over the killings.

'We all want the truth, because the truth will help us to find a proper way of handling it (the row),' Mistura said.

De Mistura told reporters that investigations would ascertain the exact position of the ship.

Rome also says an autopsy of the fishermen's bodies is needed to determine whether they were killed by bullets fired from guns used by the Italian marines.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi was also set to visit India next week for further talks.

In a related development, a top Indian Catholic cleric, Archbishop George Alencherry, denied reports in an Italian news agency that said he would attempt to mediate in the crisis, broadcaster CNN-IBN reported.

'The report is wrong. The agency removed the report and expressed their apology for the mistake. I have not tried to intervene in this matter, nor have I contacted any ministers regarding this,' Alencherry, who was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome over the weekend, was quoted as saying.

'Two precious lives have been lost. Strong legal action should be taken against the guilty,' he said.

Read more about Italy