The High Court in Kerala has once again postponed its decision on the Italian appeal over jurisdiction in the case of the two Italian marines arrested in India. Indian foreign minister S.M. Krishna said that “it’s down to the court to decide how to overcome the impasse”, after a meeting in Trivandrum the Chief Minister of the State of Kerala Oommen Chandy. Krishna added that the affair “need not have any impact on the editing friendly relations between India and Italy “.
Functional immunity
High Court of Kerala has once again postponed its ruling on jurisdiction to a date to be announced on Tuesday 3 April. Italy, whose stance is that the authority falls to the Italian justice system, presented a new memorandum in which it “insists on the two marines’ functional immunity”, as told to ANSA by the foreign ministry’s Central Director for Asia Andrea Perugini, who was in Trivandrum where Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are being held. Meanwhile the two have been given another 14 days of incarceration, while the ballistics study done three weeks ago has yet to be submitted. Finally, a postponement of one day also in the final ruling on the release of the oil tanker Enrica Lexie (on which the two marines, stationed in counter-piracy service, were arrested in February in Kochi waters) after an appeal to the High Court of Kerala by the families of the two fishermen killed.
Meanwhile Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Staffan De Mistura has gone to New Delhi to resume direct contact with the Indian Central and Kerala authorities.
