UN court orders detention in Italy, trial in India for killer marines

The United Nations court in The Hague, Switzerland, is reported to have ordered the detention of the marines in Italy, pending trial in India. Sources at The Hague, however, said details of the court's order will emerge clearly only tomorrow.

The UN court has reportedly ordered that once home, Italy should ensure that Girone reports at regular intervals to an Italian authority chosen by the Supreme Court and should not leave Italy without the Indian Supreme Court's consent, sources said.

A Hague court has ruled that India's Supreme Court must decide the issue of granting bail for Girone, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years. The UN arbitration court has ruled that India should release the Italian marine who was detained in 2012 and Italy should promise India his return to India for trial.

Of the two Italian marines who shot 2 Indian fishermen in 2012, one of them is already on bail in Italy.

Now that the UN court has ruled in favour of the marine's release, Italy claims the UN court has said Delhi must release Salvatore Girone at the earliest.

Indian officials said Italy was misrepresenting the court order, which has said that the Indian Supreme Court must decide the issue of bail for Girone, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years.

In 2012, India arrested two Italian marines after they shot dead two fishermen off the coast of Kerala. Italy says the marines, who were escorting an oil tanker, mistook the fishermen for pirates.

One of the marines returned to Italy with health problems, but the Indian court has refused to allow Gironde to leave the country. He is living at Italy's embassy in Delhi. Sources in Delhi said that if bail were to be granted, the government would push for it be conditional upon Italy pledging to return Girone to India if needed for the trial. 

The case has soured relations between India and Italy, but the two countries agreed last year to move the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and abide by its decisions.

Last month, the Supreme Court extended the home leave till September of the other marine, Massimiliano Latorre.  He was allowed to travel back to Italy in 2014 for medical treatment after he suffered a stroke.

The detention of the marines, the murder charges and the long wait for the case to be resolved are sore subjects in Italy whose government insists the oil tanker, the MV Enrica Lexie, was in international waters at the time of the incident.

India argues that the case is not a maritime dispute but "a double murder at sea", in which one fisherman was shot in the head and the other in the stomach.