Mar 13, 2013
TVPM: Action cannot be taken against Minister Ganesh Kumar on the basis of the news report, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. “Ganesh’s wife Yamini Thankachy came to see me. But no complaint was lodged, then how can I accept it when it is not given,” Chandy told reporters in reply to a question. It was informed at the UDF meet attended by Chief Whip P C George that the news carried in the daily was wrong. There is nothing unusual in Madhani’s speech. That was only a speech delivered during his daughter’s nikah.

The two Italian marines, Salvatore Latorre and Massimiliano Girone, have expressed their happiness after their Foreign Ministry made it clear that the marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen would not return to India when their court-allowed leave ends this month. The two marines were allowed to go back to Italy to vote in February's General Elections. The marines, who had allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen in the Arabian Sea, said they were happy to stay back in Italy and join work. "Now we are finally happy. We are happy to go back to work," Latorre told Italy's ANSA news agency. However, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing, Tariq Anwar is hopeful of resolution of the Italian marines' crisis. "The Indian External Affairs Ministry is examining the issue. I think the MEA has taken view of this decision and they have chosen to review the situation and talk to their Italian counterparts, after talks some solution will come out," said Tariq Anwar, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing. Two Italian sailors charged with killing two Indian fishermen lost their Supreme Court bid in January this year to be tried on home soil. The sailors, members of a military security team protecting the cargo ship Enrica Lexie, said they mistook the fishermen for pirates off the southern Indian state of Kerala in February 2012. Italy challenged India's right to try the sailors in Supreme Court, saying the shooting took place in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts. Indian authorities accuse the sailors of shooting unarmed fishermen in a "contiguous zone" where Indian law applies.

Keywords: Italian marines, Indian fishermen killing, Italian marines case, Italy refusal, Enrica Lexie, Supreme Court judgment, India-Italy ties, U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea 
Italy's decision on marines unacceptable, says Chandy

TVPM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Tuesday termed as unacceptable Italy's decision not to send its two marines to India, who were being tried for killing two fishermen. He said he will take up the issue with the external affairs ministry. The Supreme Court in February allowed Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, accused of killing two Indian fishermen to return to Italy to vote in the Feb 24-25 national elections. It had earlier allowed them to go home for Christmas. "I am reaching Delhi (Tuesday) night and I will take this issue up with the external affairs ministry. We are also looking to take up this issue legally," Chandy told IANS after Italy announced that the marines will not be returning to India. The Italian government claimed that New Delhi "does not have jurisdiction over the case". Chandy said: "You should see the earnestness in how Kerala pursued this case in the... courts and also in the apex court in the country. Our stand remains the same that they should stand trial here according to the Indian law." In no way would this would be acceptable to Kerala, he said. The apex court had ruled that the case need not be tried in Kerala, instead a special court be set up in Delhi. The two marines have been at the centre of a year-long international row for allegedly shooting dead two Indian fishermen Ajesh Binki and Gelastine after mistaking them for pirates near the Kerala coast in February 2012. Italy claims the incident occurred in international waters and has been trying to get Latorre and Girone tried in Italian courts, while India contends the shooting occurred in its own territory.