Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed the Supreme court’s decision to allow an Italian marine charged with murder of two fishermen as “unacceptable”. “Court's decision is based on wrong reports from the Centre. The centre is up to foul play in Italian marine case,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
This comes after the Supreme Court earlier on Thursday allowed the return of an Italian marine arrested for murder of two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in 2012.
#FLASH SC allows one of the Italian marines Salvatore Girone's plea seeking relaxation of bail conditions, to enable him to return to Italy.
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 26, 2016
The marine identified as Salvatore Girone was one of the two marines who claimed that they mistook the Kerala fishermen for pirates as they were guarding an oil tanker. Incidentally, the Indian government supported the cause of the the Italian marines on ‘humanitarian grounds’. “Italy submitted a request to the summer recess Supreme Court of India to urgently enforce the decision of The Hague Court of Arbitration ... enabling Italian marine Salvatore Girone to quickly return to Italy,” the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in Rome on Monday, reported The Hindu. This comes just a month after an International court ruled in favour of release of the marine who has been detained in the Italian embassy in Delhi for more than four years now.