Implement Hague ruling on Girone, Italy tells India

Italy said on Monday it had petitioned India to implement a ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague to allow Italian marine Salvatore Girone return home.

The foreign ministry in Rome said Italy has presented the petition to the Supreme Court of India regarding the ruling, Ansa news reported.

Girone is one of two Italian marines accused by India of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012 during an anti-piracy mission.

The complaint against the Italian marines was lodged by Freddy, the owner of the fishing boat 'St Antony', in which the two Indian fishermen were killed when the marines opened fire on them allegedly under the misconception that they were pirates.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India is set to examine the issue during a hearing on Thursday.

"Italy submitted a request to the court to urgently enforce the decision of The Hague Court of Arbitration of April 29 enabling Girone to quickly return to Italy," read a foreign ministry statement.

"According to the Court of Arbitration decision, Italy and India are called on to cooperate in defining the conditions and the ways to regulate Girone's return and permanence," it said.

Both the countries should cooperate on the marine's return while awaiting the decision of the arbitration proceeding on the dispute over the jurisdiction on the Enrica Lexie case, the statement added.

The other marine Massimiliano Latorre is already in Italy on health grounds and his stay there has recently been extended by the apex court till September 30, 2016.

On May 2, a UN tribunal ruled that Italian marine Girone, who has been held in India for over four years over the 2012 shooting of two fishermen, should be allowed to return home while his case is subject to an international arbitration procedure.

--IANS

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