Italian marines ‘brutally murdered’ Indian fishermen: NIA

NIA officials told reporters in New Delhi on Friday that they had gathered enough evidence to prove that the fishermen were brutally murdered.

By T. K. Devasia (Reporting from Trivandrum)

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Published: Sat 10 Jan 2015, 11:27 PM

Last updated: Thu 25 Jun 2015, 8:50 PM

Trivandrum: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has refuted Italy’s claim that its two marines involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen had fired at the fishermen mistaking them to be pirates.

Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone used deadly force against the fishermen without any reason to believe that the boat approaching them had pirates on board, says National Investigation Agency. — AFP file

The chargesheet readied by the agency said that the marines, who served as security personnel on Italian oil tanker MT Enrica Lexie, had murdered the fishermen without any provocation. The chargesheet has not been filed in a court of law so far as Italy’s petition challenging India’s jurisdiction to try them is pending in the Supreme Court.

NIA officials told reporters in New Delhi on Friday that they had gathered enough evidence to prove that the fishermen were brutally murdered. The marines-Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre-had used deadly force against the fishermen without any reason to believe that the boat approaching them had pirates on board.

“The marines fired at the fishing boat without any warning shots or mini-flares in the air to warn the unarmed fishermen. They opened 20 rounds of fire from automatic weapons from a distance of 125 meters,” the NIA officials said adding that it was not possible for the marines to mistake them as pirates from such a close distance.

The chargesheet said that the marines were on their first anti-piracy assignment and they were not adequately trained to handle such assignments. The NIA officials said that marines had refused to reply to several questions NIA posed to them. Their stock reply was that they had instructions not to respond to the questions.

The NIA officials said they had also collected evidence to prove wrong Italy’s claim that the incident taken outside the territorial waters of Kerala. The Italian government had advanced this argument to avert prosecution of marines in India.

The NIA finding also confirms the conclusion made by the Kerala police, who probed the case initially, that the two fishermen-Ajesh Binki and Gelastine-were murdered. The state high court had even orally observed that it amounted to terrorism. The court noted that from the perspective of the family members of the victims, the acts of the marines were tantamount to terrorism as they had fired upon the boat without any provocation.

The incident related to the case had occurred on February 15, 2012. The high profile case was handed over to the NIA after the apex court ruled out the state’s jurisdiction to prosecute the marines. The two marines were subsequently shifted to Delhi.

One of the two marines, Massimiliano Lattore, who was allowed to go to Italy for treatment for the stroke, has moved the apex court seeking extension of his stay in his country for undergoing a heart surgery.

The bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice AK Sikri, which had earlier refused to grant the extension to Latorre, agreed to hear his plea on Monday. It had rejected the plea of co-accused Marine Salvatore Girone for permission to go to Italy to celebrate Christmas with his family.

Meanwhile, on the eve of his visit to India, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reportedly expressed concern over the dispute between the two countries and called on them to reach a “mutually acceptable solution.” Ban is scheduled to meet both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee during his visit from January 10 to 13.

news@khaleejtimes.com


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