Kollam: The judicial remand of two marines of the Italian ship Enrica Lexie, charged with shooting dead two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast on February 15, were
extended to another 14 days by a court here on Monday.
The marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, were brought from the Central Prison in Thiruvanantapuram and produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Gopakumar on expiry of deadline of their judicial custody.
The court extended the remand of the accused after the proceedings which lasted for about an hour. The magistrate agreed to consider day after tomorrow their
plea that a television set be allotted in their jail room.
The naval guards were arrested on February 19 and charged them with murder of fishermen Valentine Jalastine and Ajesh Binki, who took to sea on the boat St Antony from Neendakara in Kollam.
The accused were in police custody in the first 14 days and had been lodged in a special cell in the central prison since March 5 after the court remanded them to judicial custody.
The state government has resisted the diplomatic pressures from Italy to have them lodged in a guest house outside the prison and the case tried outside India under international maritime laws.
A special team headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar has been investigating the case and the fire arms allegedly used by the marines seized from the ship and sent to Government Forensic Laboratory for ballistic examination and analysis.
The ship is still anchored off Kochi Port as the Kerala High Court had not permitted the vessel to leave coast.
PTI
