The Indian Supreme Court in New Delhi began today to review Italy’s appeal to invalidate the preliminary trial by the Indian State of Kerala against Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, involved in an incident on 5 February 2012 in which two Indian fishermen died. The report comes from the ANSA news agency in the Indian capital.
In the presence of an Italian delegation led by Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice, President of Tribunal no. 2 of the Supreme Court Altmar Kabir gave the floor to the marine’s defence lawyer, Harish Slave, who spent three hours illustrating the general principles of sovereignty and jurisdiction on the basis of which the Kerala authorities did not have the right to intervene at the time of the incident.
After recalling the incident involving the oil tanker Enrica Lexie and the fishing vessel St. Anthony at approximately 20 nautical miles from the coast, and therefore not in Indian territorial waters but in those contiguous, Salve stressed the Navy sharp-shooters role on the ship in question.
“These are military security personnel complying with United Nations resolutions, and emissaries of the Italian government”. They are not private contractors, he added, “but are assigned to the ship’s security, and who, in the event of emergency, would not be subject even to the authority of the ship’s commander”.
Salve then examined the various sections of the Indian penal code, maintaining that “it is not applicable to this incident because it took place outside of the area in which India is able to exercise direct sovereignty”. While, he concluded, international law “is clear in designating the State whose flag the ship flies as having jurisdiction in the case of eventual crimes committed by the personnel on board”.
In mid-afternoon the President of the court adjourned deliberation to tomorrow. (ANSA).
