Rome/New Delhi: Ahead of hearing of the case in India’s apex court, Italy has blasted India’s handling of the case of the two Italian marines as "contradictory and disconcerting”.
Italy has also said that it will work among its international partners to raise awareness of the plight of the marines who are facing trial in India for the alleged killing of two fishermen.
Premier Enrico Letta, after meeting an Italian parliamentary delegation that visited the two marines -- Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone - in New Delhi, said in Rome: "We will continue our contacts with Italy`s main European and international partners to raise awareness on an issue that sees the international community on the side of our two marines and their families," Italian news agency ANSA reported.
President Giorgio Napolitano has blasted India`s handling of the case as "contradictory and disconcerting”, he said in a statement.
On Thursday, a special court in New Delhi announced that it would postpone the case until February 25, heightening tension in what has become an international matter.
The special court said it would await a February 03 ruling from the Indian Supreme Court on a reported move by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to prosecute the Italians under an anti-terrorism law that bears the death penalty, despite previous reassurances from the Indian foreign ministry that the marines would not face capital punishment.
Napolitano, who said that the case had been managed in "contradictory, disconcerting ways by the Indian authorities”, added that he will support Letta in raising awareness among Italy`s international partners about the marines.
"The head of State will continue and intensify the contacts established on this issue with the heads of State of friendly nations, having already encountered attention and understanding about this painful case from them," the statement added.
Napolitano reportedly also promised them that they would return to Italy "with honour", according to a centre-right MP who has been at the forefront of a drive to get the marines home.
"Napolitano on the phone with #marines, you will return with honour," tweeted Maurizio Gasparri, Senate whip for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi`s Forza Italia party and deputy Speaker in the upper house.
The pair are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012.
Italy`s Defence Minister Mario Mauro said on Friday that India is violating the marines` human rights by holding them for so long.
Speaking outside a defence conference in Munich, Mauro said that India`s justice system has taken too long. "(The) marines are innocent and it is right that they come back home."
"After two years, there is still not an indictment: this is a violation of human rights," Mauro added. The renewed threat of capital punishment in the case has increased outrage.
One of the Italian lawmakers who was part of a delegation that travelled to New Delhi likened capital punishment to an act of war.
One of the marines said on Monday that they were still doing their military duty. "We are soldiers, Italian soldiers. We must suffer with dignity," said Latorre, who met the parliamentary delegates at the Italian embassy."We hope to come back with honour".
After seeing the marines, the Italian delegation met all the EU ambassadors in New Delhi. All except one, whose nationality has not been disclosed, agreed with Italy that the case of the two marines was an international issue, not just a bilateral issue, the MPs said.
An Italian petition to the Indian Supreme Court said that the pair should be released due to long delays in the pre-trial process, following their arrest almost two years ago.
It also called on Indian magistrates to "immediately press charges without recurring to the anti-terrorism law," and to let the marines return to Italy to wait until they actually stand trial, judicial sources in Italy have said. As well, the petition complained that it is unclear whether the investigation has been concluded since no charges have been filed.
It also argued that invoking the anti-terrorism act would be tantamount to calling Italy a terrorist state.
The case that has drawn expressions of concern from the heads of the European Union, and the United States has reportedly also expressed support for Italy in the row.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso warned on Wednesday that the fate of the two Italian marines would "have an impact on the whole EU".
"The EU is against the death penalty in any situation," he added after a meeting Italian Premier Enrico Letta. That support from the EU and other European States was "very important for a positive solution" to the case of two Italian marines, said Letta.
The controversy has even taken a commercial twist with the EU threatening India with economic consequences if the death penalty is not taken off the table, said the news agency.
