Italian marines: Government seeks a week from Supreme Court to settle MHA, MEA logjam

NEW DELHI: The government has sought more time from the Supreme Court to break the logjam between the ministries of home and external affairs that is holding up the trial of two Italian marines accused of shooting dead two fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012.

Attorney General GE Vahanvati on Monday asked for a week’s time to return to the court with a solution acceptable to all parties, saying the issue had been “almost sorted out”.

The home ministry has sanctioned the prosecution of the marines under the stringent law that prescribes death penalty for the offence but the external affairs ministry fears grave repercussions on India’s ties with Italy and other European Union nations which have clamped a ban on death penalty.

In an application filed in the Supreme Court, Italian government has objected to the government’s decision to invoke the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Maritime Navigation Act (SUA), 2002 on the grounds that it amounts to a violation of India’s sovereign assurance to Italy that the duo would not be awarded death penalty.

The government is seriously considering withdrawing the SUA to get the much-delayed trial of the marines back on track, a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.

The duo has been in the Italian embassy for over 13 months on bail, waiting for a special court to try them. The apex court had on January 18 directed the central government to set up a special court to try the case against the marines.

On Monday, the counsel for the Italian government, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi argued that the duo was to be tried under IPC, CrPC, the Maritime Zones Act, 1976 and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. But contrary to sovereign assurances given to Italy, the home ministry had accorded sanction for the National Investigation Agency to charge the marines under the SUA.