Indian Bishop seeks justice in Italian marines' case

Thiruvananthapuram, India, 27 February 2014: A senior archbishop of the Latin rite Church in Kerala has said that the Church's prime concern in the case of Italian marines' is to ensure justice to the victims' families.

Archbishop Soosa Pakiam of Thiruvanthapuram said it was "not justifiable" to apply different sets of laws to different people.

The archbishop's comment came in the wake of government on Monday informing the Supreme Court that the marines would not be prosecuted under the anti-piracy law-- Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA)--that attracts death penalty as maximum punishment.

The marines are accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012. Both the victims belonged to Latin rite.

"I am not a lawyer to answer the question whether the case has been weakened by sparing the accused of facing the SUA law. However, applying different sets of laws for different people cannot be justified," the archbishop said responding to queries at a press meet.

"There could be pressures on the Government of India. There were reports that Indians living in Italy and other parts of Europe are facing problems because of the (marines') case. In a broader perspective, if the accused get the concessions of law as a result of these factors, we are not against that," he added.

"We are pained that two lives were lost. One of them is a member of Latin Catholic community in Kerala and the other hailed from the neighboring diocese in Tamil Nadu. We have taken a strong stand in the case right from the start," he said.

He said what was all the more important was to put in place safety measures to ensure the security of fisher people to avoid such unfortunate incidents in future. Source: UCAN