NATO warned India today that using the anti-terrorism law in the trial of the two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen would undermine international efforts to fight piracy.
India announced that its Supreme Court will hold a hearing next week to decide whether the two riflemen, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, should be tried under the maritime security laws. The announcement provoked criticism from the European and Italian authorities.
Rasmussen: negative implications for the international fight against piracy
Fogh Rasmussen, the Secretary General of NATO, which is coordinating the anti-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean, called today for an “appropriate solution”.
“I am personally very concerned about the situation of the two Italian sailors. I am also concerned by the suggestion that they could be tried for terrorism offences”, he told a news conference in Brussels.
“This could have possible negative implications for the international fight against piracy. A fight which is in all of our interest”.
The two riflemen have been held in India for two years now, on a “semi-custodial” basis. They are accused of killing two fishermen while engaged in an anti-piracy mission on board the Enrica Lexie oil tanker in February 2012.
