Marine issue:Italian PM calls up Manmohan Singh

Italian  Prime Minister Mario Monti . |AP

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called up his counterpart Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to discuss on the case involving two marines facing murder charges. 

With the possibility of allowing death charges against the marines for killing two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in February last year, the Italian Prime Minister decided to call Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Prime Minister Singh received a telephone call this evening from Italian Prime Minister. During the course of the call, the issue of Italian marines in India was discussed," official sources said.

Prime Minister appreciated the Italian Government’s decision to return the marines to India as per the commitments made before the Indian Supreme Court and this step would enable the judicial process to proceed forward. 

Following his recent conversation between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy Staffan de Mistura, he mentioned that the process of setting up a special court was at an advanced stage and the details regarding this would be provided by the Attorney General  during the hearing in the Supreme Court on April 16.

On February 15 last year, the two marines Massmiliano Latore and Salvatore Girone were on board on Italian vessel ‘Enrica Lexie’ when they allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast.

The Home Minister had handed over the case to National Investigation Agency(NIA), which  has submitted an FIR before the Special NIA court booking under sections 302(murder), 307(attempt to murder), 427(mischief) and section 34(Common intent) of IPC. 

The NIA also booked them under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act, 2002.