"They were sent back to Italy, that 3 January 2013, because we kept them there: the Indians would never have expected us to send them back ”.
Determined and confident in affirming it, with the inevitable look of the investigative journalist who makes Toni Capuozzo, the historic signature of Mediaset, one of the most followed envoys on the national scene.
We met him at the March 12 us at the Army Officers' Club of Bologna, where he presented his latest book written for Mursia: "The secret of the Marò".
A book that the journalist and well-known face of television information has written straight away, for the sake of truth, and for that particular feeling of friendship that binds him - long before the tragic event - to Massimiliano Latorre, one of the two riflemen of Marina known during the many reports made in Afghanistan.
How are our two soldiers? Do they feel they have been abandoned?
I know of Salvatore Girone what Massimiliano tells me; I know you're graduating online, it's a long thing to spend time down there, within the four walls of the Embassy.
Massimiliano, on the other hand, continues to feel unwell, and if he could, he would return to India tomorrow.
(Unlike those who sent him there), the fact of having left a fellow soldier there is not forgiven.
A book that wants to clarify and draw attention to the whole affair.
This is not a book like the others; it is done with so much anger, with the sole intent of not letting what 15 February 2012 actually pass over in silence.
The general silence of the media on the whole affair is sad. We know everything about Meredith, or Nadia Gambirasio, but nobody cares to explain, for example, if the stroke that struck Massimiliano Latorre in 46 years can be attributed to the whole affair: whether it is a psychosomatic consequence of what he suffered.
I almost suspect that in Italy there are second-class citizens and second-class citizens.
And he does not talk about it because politics and the institutions have made a terrible figure throughout the affair, displaying a photograph of a country that is unable to bring home two of its uniformed servants.
Indicative that the book was first proposed to Mondadori and Rizzoli (before they allied themselves), and that neither of the two publishing giants expressed an interest in publishing it.
A story, however, that an important slice of Italians is struggling to swallow.
And it's very strange, because wherever I go, I always find salt filled with indignant people, who want to know the facts.
The truth is that these two boys, with their silent obedience, and also in the way they wear their uniform, urge a strong feeling of pride. In fact, if you think about it, the uniform has been shown to bring it more honor to them than the superiors who sent them down there.
It is true that a certain Italy, even an institutional one, never believed in their innocence.
If only for the right to a fair trial ...
Yes, I am reminded of Bertold Brecht's question "Is there a judge in Berlin?"
That sacrosanct right to have a judge.
Four years have now passed since that 15 February 2012, and at least two more will pass by before the Hamburg International Sea Court decides the competent jurisdiction: only then will the real trial begin.
Where is the always invoked guaranteeism, the culture of law?
Why did the first time they returned to Italy not a single magistrate, for reasons of justice, take their passports?
Some time ago I was in Rome, at the home of a high-ranking official of the Armed Forces, also present a representative of the Public Prosecutor who, when asked by the landlady why the two soldiers had not been - due to investigations - prevented from leaving the country , he replied that it was suggested to abstain from doing so ... for the good of the boys (with all due respect to the so invoked independence of our magistracy, which - we know - works intermittently).
In addition, Indians have not made a single charge in three years ...
And this makes it clear why they sent them on leave to Italy: just because we kept them there.
In that case, certainly, they would have done a little bit of diplomacy at the diplomatic level, but it would have ended there, and they would have risen from the embarrassment of the whole affair.
On the other hand, obscure facts the story presents not a few.
At 16.15 Enrica Lexie announces an attempted attack by an unspecified pirate boat. Attempt rejected because he showed that he had armed personnel on board (the military, having carried out the bridge, mentioned the weapons supplied).
Soon after, the small boat (of pirates) changes course and moves away.
At the 21.15 of the same day, not far away, a Greek tanker raises an alarm for the presence of two boats with hostile intentions (one is the one that had tried to attack the Italian cargo previously?).
The Indian Coast Guard collects the signal and rushes to the scene - it is late at night -; the result is an intervention on fire that strikes the fishermen's boat.
From this moment on, the Indians will try to bring back the hand to bring down the incident within the first alarm given by the Italian ship.
To demonstrate this thesis there is also the fact that the first autopsy of the corpses of the two fishermen performed by an Indian doctor indicates entry points compatible with an 7.60mm caliber, the one used by the Indian coast guard.
Only after the reconnaissance on board the ship revealed the type of weapons of our fusiliers (5.56mm), a second ballistic survey changed the compatibility with that of our Beretta submachine guns.
Is India therefore exercising its authority over two individuals exonerated from its own field trials?
Of course, and Italy knows it. Am I wrong, were the maròs received at the Quirinale, even individually, by two Presidents, Napolitano and Mattarella? Evidence that they were sacrificed to the reason of State.
However, Italy has compensated the families of the two Indian fishermen (€ 150.000 per head, ed).
Suicidal choice, especially in front of Indian public opinion. Like that of the commander Vitielli (agreed with the shipowner) to enter the port, or to have the Kerala police on board; fact, the latter, at least unusual - the ship is Italian territory - even occurred in the presence of our Consul.
What remains of this story?
Just think of the message that history leaves to all our staff in uniform: no matter what happens to you, nobody, let alone your state, will protect you.
Are you confident for the future?
No, no I am not. Above all, I do not trust our political class, a part of which tries to use the story to its own prerogative.
That law, I remember, was the last of the Berlusconi government (on the proposal of the Minister of Defense, La Russa, ed) and they all voted for it.
