January 05, 2013: Two Italian marines have made good their pledge and returned to
Kerala in southern India to stand trial for murder, after celebrating Christmas and
New Year at home with their families.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone
arrived back in India on a charter flight early Friday morning, one of their lawyers,
P. Udyabhanu, said on Friday.
The pair are accused of shooting dead two Indian
fishermen.
They claim they mistook the fishermen for pirates trying to attack
the Enrica Lexie, an Italian oil tanker they were guarding off the coast of Kerala
in February 2012.
The Italian government has backed the two marines saying
the incident happened in international waters, but Indian authorities claim the vessel
was within its territory.
On December 20, a court granted the Italians permission
– on a US$ 1.1 million bond - to return to Italy to celebrate Christmas with their
families and directed them to return to the port city of Kochi before January 10.
After
their arrival, the marines appeared before Kochi police commissioner K. G. James and
then went to Kollam, 135 km from Kerala’s commercial capital, to surrender their passports
to the district sessions court where the trial will commence on January 15.
“They
have complied with the orders of the High Court and they have no intention to avoid
trial,” said C.S. Nair, the marines’ defense counsel at the Kollam court. The request
to allow the marines to return home was initially opposed by the Kerala government
which claimed the pair would not return.