By IANS,
New Delhi/Kochi : A day before a joint forensic examination of the weapon used by Italian Marines for killing two Indian fishermen, officials of the two countries held another round of talks Friday with Italy expressing satisfaction at the progress on resolving the issue. The meeting set the stage for the visit of the Italian foreign minister to New Delhi on Tuesday.
“I wanted to thank the Indian authorities for their hospitality and briefed them about the meeting with the (Kerala) CM (Chief Minister Oommen Chandy). I also thanked Indian lawyers who are working on the defence side. Allowing Italian forensic experts is a good sign,” Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura said after the talks in New Delhi Friday.
“We are very much concerned about the militaries of both the countries. Finally we are expecting the Italian foreign minister to come on Tuesday. We hope the incident is behind us and the relationship between the countries remains the same,” he added.
Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said: “The Italian minister expressed satisfaction on the progress in Kerala. The Italian foreign minister will arrive on Tuesday for further discussions.”
The spokesperson reiterated that the law of the land will take its course in dealing with the two Italian Marines, indicating that the fundamental positions of New Delhi and Rome have not changed since the Feb 15 shooting of the two fishermen by two Italian naval guards who mistook them for pirates.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi will be in New Delhi Tuesday for talks with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna during which he is expected to push for an early resolution of the row that threatens to cast a shadow over bilateral ties.
There was, however, no breakthrough after the meeting Friday as Italy maintained its stance and wants its experts to verify the truth.
The Kerala Police, investigating the killing of two Indian fishermen by Italian guards aboard the vessel Enrica Lexie, are expected to continue their probe by visiting the Italian vessel after two Italian defence officials arrive Saturday, a police officer said.
Speaking to reporters in Kochi Friday, Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar, who is heading the probe team, said it is now possible to go aboard the ship to continue the probe.
“Yesterday (Thursday), the Italian team had got permission from the court at Kollam, which extended the police custody of the two Italian marines to get two of their officials to be with the Kerala Police probe team,” said Kumar.
A court in Kollam Thursday had extended the police custody of Marines Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone after police told the judge they needed more time to interrogate them. The next hearing will be Feb 28.
Italy has maintained that the firing incident took place in international waters and should be tried according to international law. New Delhi has said that since the incident involved an attack on an Indian vessel, the accused should be tried under the Indian Penal Code.
The vessel, which was berthed in the outer sea at Kochi, was brought to the dock at the Cochin Port Trust Friday morning and ballistic experts of Kerala Police also had arrived but with the Italian team arriving only by Saturday, the inspection and probe would now take place only then.
The investigating team has now got a search warrant to go aboard the vessel to make a detailed investigation by taking into possession the weapon used by the Italian guards.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy denied media reports that the first information report (FIR) lodged by Kerala Police against the Italian Marines was weak. “It is unfortunate that canards are spread like this by people who do not have a clue of what the case is about. Our case is very strong and nothing was left to chance when the case was registered. There is no need for an alternative FIR,” Chandy told reporters here.