1000 days have passed since our two fusiliers of marine Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone were imprisoned from India without any detailed indictments against them.
A stay forced by Italy when the 22 March 2013 the State decided to return them to Indian justice despite providing for the death penalty and denying them all rights related to the status of military employees in off-site operations desired by the national parliament and UN resolutions for the fight against maritime piracy.
It is beyond any doubt that on that occasion Italy carried out an act of passive extradition, choosing to delegate to India the management of an absolutely undue judicial action, although not supported by evidence.
Facts that drag from 1000 days and protected by "hidden truths" that have suggested to the Monti government to return two soldiers in hands "clearly hostile". A decision in absolute contrast with the Italian legal and ethical culture and taken without respecting the Constitution and the 698 article of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibiting the extradition of anyone, Italian or otherwise, risks being the subject of criminal proceedings without the guarantee of fundamental rights of defense and in the absence of certain proof.
An institutional decision of dubious legal congruity and at the time justified by the formal insurance of India on the non-application of the death penalty. Document, however, devoid of legal consistency, as expressly enshrined in a constitutional court (223 27 June 1996) with which the supreme court considered the mere formal guarantee of non-application of the death penalty, insufficient act to grant the 'extradition.
A real referee whose reasons are not clear and for this the facts have been submitted to the attention of the prosecutor of the republic of Rome.
An abnormal decision for a country like ours, traditionally at the forefront of fighting the death penalty. On that sad day, however, Italy wanted to protect interests of dubious nature considered prevalent with respect to the certainty of the defense of the right to life, solemnly proclaimed in all international acts on the rights of the person, starting with the Universal Declaration of the Rights of man of the 10 December 1984.
An Italy that on that occasion, after more than two centuries, has forgotten that the "death penalty is not a right, but a nation's war against a citizen", as Cesare Beccaria wrote in "Dei delitti and penis".
The possibility that India may apply the death penalty, however, has not yet been avoided if recent news agencies are analyzed on the matter. An AGI from New Delhi of the 30 August that reports among other things "... The anti-terrorist police Nia, who has instructed the case of the marines accused of the killing of two Indian fishermen in February 2012, has entrusted him to the special court, despite the opposition of the defense that claims that Nia no longer had jurisdiction ... and on which the New Delhi government is awaiting the counter-claims ".
Counter-arguments that do not appear to have arrived yet for which the competence of the NIA and therefore the application of its Act (anti-terrorism law) remains "pending" and, consequently, the risk of capital punishment is not yet canceled.
After 1000 days, then, nothing is certain about the fate of our two soldiers and the Italian state continues to stop confirming the shame of having decided to renounce national sovereignty and to have left in our hostile hands two fellow citizens guilty only of having chosen to serve your country in uniform.
1000 days broken only by declarations of intent and no results, which offend Italy, its traditions and its culture. Almost three years in which Italian sovereignty has been canceled to protect non-identifiable lobbying and personal economic interests.
A story without end, unacceptable and in which the dominant words have always been "privacy and low profile" 1000 days characterized by a total and almost generalized indifference on a political level, incomprehensible by those who should have made their voices heard incisively, first and foremost the president of the republic who is the guardian of the Constitution and to whom the Constitutional Article Article 87 assigns the high honor of Chief of the Armed Forces.
1000 days in which three governments have succeeded that seem to have passed "the witness" on how to handle the case. That of President Monti who has decided to send back to India the two navy riflemen with a defense minister careful not to abandon a ship now adrift and close to the landing, not to risk positions of future privilege.
The second, by Prime Minister Letta very detached from the affair in his government action and who preferred to delegate the head of the foreign ministry Emma Bonino, very good at promising but at the same time, not very conclusive in the proceedings. Rather, very firm in words when he stated "There is no proven 'innocence of the two marines", desecrating the fundamental principles of the rule of law.
A third government, the current one, with the prime minister ready to declare to the Italians his proximity to the two maròs with phone calls and other actions on the façade, but not very concrete in the results.
A prime minister who on the basis of his consolidated experiences in the field of foreign policy prefers to resort to a "Quiet Diplomacy", synonymous in this case of "Diplomazia Dormiente", given the results achieved so far.
An executive characterized perhaps more than the previous one by declarations of intent that have led to nothing and that has also rejected a proposal by the International Red Cross to deal with the affair.
The honorable Pinotti and Mogherini, representatives of the Defense and Foreign Affairs, absolutely in line with the wording of Italian law to judge, incisive in declaring that they are ready to internationalize the case, but ready the next day to declare their intention to carry on bilateral contacts based on approaches of "secret diplomacy" inherited perhaps by Dr. Bonino.
Now a new Italian foreign minister who faces the international limelight declaring him, just named, to have called Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, and then to be silent.
Italians, on the other hand, continue to wait for two fellow citizens to return to Italy free and head-on and the armed forces are waiting for a signal that guarantees them the protection of the State when they are employed in operations outside the national territory.
The Italians who still believe in the State are tired and we do not deserve once again the declarations of hope like those of the president of the foreign affairs and community commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr Cicchitto who recently wished that: "... the two marched Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone can also count on European solidarity and the international community for a rapid and definitive resolution of their affair "(ANSA 6 nov).
A further demonstration, if any were needed, that part of politics rather than acting concretely prefers to entrust the reliability of the state to the solidarity of others.
Finally, an Italy is tired of being irradiated abroad when the new Foreign Minister Hon. Gentiloni states, almost six months after the election of Indian president Modi, that the changed political framework in India "produces results" on the case of the two marines.
A statement that does not however take into account the fact that after six months from Modi's election nothing has happened compared to the past. Rather a continuity with what has already happened in these days 1000: the continuous postponement of the hearings of the Indian courts aggravated by the fact that we return to talk about the application or not of your Act.
Minister Gentiloni, instead of hoping, should leverage on what is established by international law and the UNCLOS Convention, by initiating the arbitration promised by Mr Mogherini, but perhaps forgotten in some of the Farnesina drawer.
In fact, Italy has all the credentials to have recognized its rights as "an international referee" as provided for by the Sea Convention. There is no justification because this procedure has not yet been launched, despite two days ago President Modi has stated in Burma that India in all the disputes over the Law of the Sea must refer to UNCLOS.
The honorable Gentiloni, therefore, if he wants to confirm his trust in the new policy of Modi, must immediately start the planned international acts and in a sense indicated by the Indian president as the path to follow.
Not proceeding in this direction would represent a specific responsibility of Italian politics that must be clarified and of which someone will have to take this into account.
We want to talk about it?
Fernando Termentini
