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MARINES

Italians saved from India’s death penalty law

India on Friday announced it would not prosecute two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen under a maritime security law that carries a mandatory death penalty.

Published: 7 February 2014 16:32 CET
Italians saved from India's death penalty law
Massimiliano Latorre (L) and Salvatore Girone have been accused of murder over the shooting deaths of two fishermen off the coast of Kerala. Photo: AFP/STR

New Delhi's plans to try the men under the maritime security law had drawn strong protests from Rome which feared the move would result in violation of an earlier Indian government pledge not to seek execution of the two marines.

"The NIA (National Investigation Agency) will not be prosecuting the marines now," home ministry spokesman K.S. Dhatwalia said.

"The ministry had earlier given permission to the NIA to prosecute the marines. That decision has now been revised," he said.

India's next step in the prosecution of the marines was not immediately clear.

The marines were accused of murder over the shooting deaths of two fishermen off the coast of Kerala while serving as security guards on an Italian-flagged cargo ship in February 2012. The case sparked a diplomatic row between India and Italy.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone say they mistook the fishing boat for a pirate vessel and only fired warning shots.

India has dragged its feet in starting a trial, with legal experts attributing the delay to uncertainty over which law to use to prosecute the men.

The delay prompted the Italian marines last month to ask India's Supreme Court to drop murder charges against them and allow them to return home.

READ MORE: Italian marines ask India to drop murder case

To speed up the process, the top court on Monday gave the Indian government a week to make a final decision on prosecution of the marines.

Italy insists the pair should be prosecuted on home soil as the shootings involved an Italian-flagged vessel in international waters. India says the killings took place in waters under its jurisdiction. 

The marines have been given bail and are staying at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. They were allowed to go home to vote in elections and returned to India for trial in March last year. Rome initially refused to send them back to India, triggering a bitter diplomatic stand-off between the two countries.

India, which uses the death penalty in what it says are the "rarest of rare cases", assured Italy at the time of the men's return that they would not face execution if found guilty.

The return of the two marines to India caused huge controversy in Rome and prompted Italy's foreign minister to resign in protest.

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MARINES

US doubles number of marines stationed in Norway

The United States has confirmed plans to more double the number of troops based in Norway, a move Russia has already criticised as “clearly unfriendly”.

Published: 15 August 2018 22:35 CEST
US doubles number of marines stationed in Norway
300 US marines arriving at Værnes in 2017. Photo: Ned Alley/NTB Scanpix
The Norwegian Defence Ministry on Wednesday said that the US had recently informed them that they would push forward with a plan to increase the number of US marines stationed in Norway from 300 to “up to 700”. 
 
“US authorities have recently confirmed that they are happy to continue and increase the rotation-based training and practice in Norway for units from the US Navy Corps,” Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a press release.
 
“This means that the scheme will continue beyond 2018 and could include up to 700 soldiers.” 
 
The marines, the first foreign troops stationed in Norway since World War Two, were originally expected to leave Norway at the end of this year, but the posting will now last for up to five years. 
 
When the plans were first floated in June, Russia's embassy to Norway complained that they contravened assurances Norway gave the Soviet Union when it joined Nato in 1949 that no foreign combat troops would be stationed on its soil. 
 
The stationing of US troops “contravenes the Norwegian decision from 1949,” the embassy said . 
 
But Norway's foreign minister Ine Eriksen Søreide dismissed these claims, repeating the Norwegian government position that the marines should not be seen as a permanent US military base. 
 
“The Russians are very well aware of what it is and what it isn't,” she told Marine Corps Times in May. “Of course, they are using it in their propaganda and we are countering that as best we can because this is something that is not new.” 
 
The arrangement has also met with criticism in Norway from both the Social left and Labour parties, who argue that the priority should be maintaining a strong Norwegian troop presence near the northern border with Russia.