Yesterday the Indian Supreme Court upheld the appeal of Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone and ousted the NIA from the investigation into the two Navy Fusiliers by updating the trial in a month.
The decree cannot be considered as a final goal, but only an intermediate goal. An important success in the long tug-of-war between Italy and India practically started 22 in March 2013 when former Prime Minister Monti had definitively delegated the judicial action in Delhi, in complete decision-making autonomy and without the pronouncement of an Italian court that should evaluate the evidence against possible defendants destined to be handed over to a Third State to be tried for crimes in which the death penalty is envisaged.
Yesterday's success confirms that, if the request for international arbitration had not been kept hidden in a drawer, perhaps now the two Fucilieri di Marina would have been in Italy for some time, although probably awaiting the evaluation of their natural tribunal, the Italian one and certainly not Indian.
More than one has opposed this fundamental legal action envisaged in the international context, not least Dr. de Mistura formerly former undersecretary for foreign affairs and then appointed government commissioner for the current affair, citing the long timeframe that would have been necessary in the face of a fair and rapid trial that he himself was coordinating with his Indian contacts. 'Ambassador Terzi with determination and conviction based on his professionalism and on his high sense of the state, since 11 March last year he spoke of arbitration as a suitable solution to unblock the affair but was not even heard by the prime minister of the government he referred to part and forced, however, to resign, not sharing the decision to send the two marines back to India, after twice, he, the foreign minister, had managed a subtle and constructive diplomatic action to bring them back to Italy.
We must not let our guard down and abandon the high road just taken to return to past decisions.
Danilo Taino in an editorial published today by Corriere della Sera, once again doubts the effectiveness of international arbitration. Among other things, he reports “… .On March 6, Girone and Latorre - probably advised by the team of their Indian lawyers - presented an appeal to the Court against the use of the NIA (National Investigation Agency) in the trial. With this obviously recognizing the legitimacy of Indian justice, to which they appealed, to proceed in the case. It is at this point that the highest court in the country has done nothing but admit the legitimacy of the appeal and start a procedure - next appointment in a month - to discuss the merits of their objections. In this situation, it is difficult for Italy to argue that India has no jurisdiction while the Supreme Court of Delhi is preparing to discuss a case raised by the two marines themselves… ”. “… At this point, resorting to international arbitration for Italy is very risky. It is that Rome has not moved in a coordinated way as it should have. In the affair there was a lack of decisive guidance from the government…. ”A highly respectable analysis which, however, does not clarify, perhaps for the sake of synthesis, that the legal procedure was definitely decided because it was shared by Dr. de Mistura who with good certainty confronted the Italian lawyers of the Avvocatura dello Stato and with the same government from which he is delegated to manage the affair. It is therefore impossible to speak of "... lack of guidance decided by the Government ...", if anything, do not share its contents. Rather it would have been better to specify the hesitant and contradictory government guidelines by referring to previous executives. First of all the one who decided on March 22, 2013 the return of the two marines to Delhi and locked the papers in the safe to start the arbitration and the next one who kept the casket tightly closed, leaving the solution of the problem to the "diplomatic culture" of dr. de Mistura. The current government, on the other hand, must not let this first success fade away. Rather, it is appropriate to put aside the Machiavellian sophisms applied up to now by Dr. de Mistura replacing them with an incisive action at international level for having recognized the right of the Italian jurisdiction on the matter and asking for the immediate return of our soldiers to Italy, a will expressly reported in a note from Palazzo Chigi.
To get India to recognize all this, the path of "the internationalization of the affair" cannot be abandoned, as Undersecretary of Defense Domenico Rossi reminds us.
"The suspension of the trial in the special court and the exclusion of the NIA is a first sign of Indian justice towards our marines, says Rossi. A positive news which, however, is not enough to resolve the case. India has no right. to judge our marines, continues the undersecretary, and therefore it is necessary to continue to follow the path of internationalization of the affair.
The moment is certainly delicate also because the Indian elections are approaching, the results of which could hand over the country to Modi, leader of the nationalist party, who has never been indulgent with Massimiliano and Salvatore or any other more moderate current that in order to get out of the loop in which India has slipped into for two years, could suggest a modest sentence for our soldiers and send them back to Italy to serve their sentence as foreseen in a bilateral agreement of August 2012.
The government should, therefore, take advantage of the 4 weeks that still separate us from the beginning of the process, to increase international pressure as Ambassador Terzi also points out: "Strong international pressure is the only condition for bringing Latorre and Girone back with honor in Italy. Also because it was in international waters when there was the shooting there is no doubt: this is confirmed by the sentence of 18 January of 2013 of the Indian supreme court ".
Four weeks are not many, so it is necessary to accelerate the time with an even more incisive executive action than the current one to bring India to accept international arbitration and not fall back into the error made in March last year when for protecting the economic and lobbying interests it was decided to send the two marines back to India.
A decision taken certainly not to defend the Italian repute that would have been compromised if the commitment to send the two soldiers back to Delhi at the end of the electoral license had not been respected. An affidavit whose contents had been nullified by the Indian's failure to reply to an Italian note with which Italy communicated to India “its willingness to reach an agreement for a friendly settlement of the dispute, including through international arbitration or a judicial resolution, asking India to activate the consultations foreseen by the UNCLOS convention ”.
An official document too often forgotten to justify decisions that are not always acceptable and because they are convinced that the story would have been resolved in a "rapid and fair" manner as repeated by dr. de Mistura on each return of his missions to India.
Instead it is absolutely necessary to accelerate the time and proceed with determination as recommended by Ambassador Terzi who adds should also be addressed by the UN security council: "Italy must raise the issue also in this forum: this body has often dealt with , has the duty to do it, the theme of anti piracy ". And therefore he would also have the right to evaluate the marines.
Massimiliano and Salvatore have already been sacrificed for thirty denarii, Italy's international image has certainly not gained from this situation, a way has opened up to regain lost time, let's not abandon it!
Fernando Termentini
