Italy claims UN court ordered for release of detained marine, India disagrees

Italian marines Salvatore Girone (L) and Massimiliano Latorre sit in a private boat after appearing at the police commissioner's office in Kochi on 14 November 2012 Reuters

The Indian government has disagreed with the Italian foreign ministry's claim that the UN Arbitration court has ordered for the release of the marine held in the country on murder charges. Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre – both Italian marines – were arrested in 2012 after they had shot and killed two Indian fishermen in southern India, suspecting that they were pirates.

While both the marines were granted bail, Girone has been detained at the Italian embassy in New Delhi since the past four years and Latorre was sent to Italy on bail after he suffered a stroke in 2014.

Now, Indian government sources have alleged that the European country is misrepresenting the court order and said that the Supreme Court had the right to exercise jurisdiction over their bail, according to media reports.

An international tribunal – Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague – was called in to mediate between the two countries after they agreed to abide by its ruling in 2015.

According to the agreement, no appeals can be made against the UN tribunal ruling nor can it be challenged.

In a statement, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: "The Tribunal left it to the Supreme Court of India to fix the precise conditions of Sergeant Girone's bail. This could include him reporting to an authority in Italy designated by our Supreme Court, surrendering his passport to Italian authorities and not leaving Italy without the permission of our Supreme Court. Italy shall apprise our Supreme Court of his situation every three months."

Italy has been arguing that the case should not be heard in India as the incident happened in international waters. However, India has remained confident that the issue of jurisdiction will be determined in their favour.

Italian news agency ANSA quoted Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as saying that he was sending a message of "friendship and cooperation to the great people of India and to his Indian counterpart [Narendra Modi]."