Tribunal Rules India Can’t Prosecute Italian Marines In 2012 Fishermen Killing Case Due To Immunity

In a setback to India in the 2012 Enrica Lexie case, the Arbitral Tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in its judgment has said that two Italian marines cannot be tried in an Indian court. This has been decided as Massimiliano Latorre & Salvatore Girone enjoy immunity as marines are state officials. But the tribunal has upheld the conduct of Indian authorities with respect to the incident under the provisions of UNCLOS, said MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava. India had maintained that the marines had flouted India's sovereignty by moving into Exclusive Economic Zone and killing two Indian fishermen. Tribunal rejected Italy’s claim to compensation for the detention of the marines. Significantly, in 2012 the Italian side had stuck an agreement with the two fishermen's families for Rs 1 crore each as what they described "compensation". Court had expressed shock at some clauses of the agreement saying it amounted to "blood money”. Harish Salve, appearing on behalf of the Italian side, has claimed it was not "blood money" but compensation to allow the two families to rebuild their lives.