Months after the case was dropped by the Supreme Court of India, the investigation into the Italian marines regarding the killing of two fishermen in Kerala in 2012 has been dismissed by an Italian court. In a statement, Italian Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini welcomed the move.
The Rome judge while pronouncing the judgement said that the court followed an assessment by prosecutors last month that there was not enough evidence for a trial. “This brings to an end a years-long event during which the defence ministry has never left the two marines and their families on their own,” the Defence Minister said.
How the incident unfolded
Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre shot dead unarmed fishermen off the southern Indian coast in February 2012.
The two Italian marines were protecting an Italian oil tanker as part of an anti-piracy mission in Kerala.
India arrested and charged both with homicide. Girone and Latorre were members of Italy’s elite San Marco Marine regiment.
Italy argued the marines were in international waters and had fired on the fishing boat because it failed to heed warnings to stay away.
In 2015, Italy took the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which ruled that the marines were entitled to immunity.
In 2016, the same tribunal allowed Girone, who had been holed up in the Italian embassy in New Delhi, to return to Italy.
Massimiliano Latorre had already returned home two years earlier for treatment after a stroke.
India in April 2021 accepted a compensation offer of Rs 10 crore. The same year the case was quashed in June.
The Supreme Court ruled that Rs 4 crore each would be given to the families and the remaining Rs 2 crore to the owner of the boat.
