LETTER FROM MINISTER TERZI, OUR MARINES WILL COME HOME
(ANSA) – ROME, 1 SEPT – “Our marines will be coming home. This has been the government and parliament’s consistent commitment and that of all those who have ceaselessly contributed to efforts of support and national cohesion”, writes Minister for Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi in a letter to Veneto Region Alderman and promoter of the northeast “Patriot’s Network” Elena Donazzan, who yesterday accused the government of “having forgotten” the two Italian servicemen, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, held in India for over 6 months. “The strong attachment to our armed forces”, the minister continued, “and to the men and women in difficult and dangerous conditions working in Italy and abroad to ensure the dignity of Italy and the security of Italians, is exactly the same as those that daily motivate the government’s, and my personal, efforts to secure the return of Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone”. “The attention of all State institutions has been constant, unwavering and unified, with the single goal of bringing Italy’s views to bear on this delicate question of international jurisdiction, and to bringing our servicemen home”, writes Terzi. “Engaged in this joint endeavour, the government reports regularly to the parliament to which it is closely linked, and to those from whom in recent months we have drawn support and useful contributions; involved also are representatives of Italian institutions, who are at work daily on international political and legal undertakings”. “In compliance with the institutional duty to inform the public”, the minister concludes, “each delicate stage of this situation, such as the 28 August audience with the Indian Supreme Court, has been duly announced and covered by the print media, press agencies and television, which, along with the competent institutions, have ensured the capillary dissemination of all information. The foreign ministry’s website contains countless details on how this difficult situation is proceeding, as it does also in the case – different but nevertheless of equal priority in providing assistance to Italians outside of Italy – of the 27 Italian nationals involved over recent months in situations of serious risk as a result of piracy and kidnapping, and that the government has managed to bring home”. (ANSA)
