Pizza for the Trigger-happy Italians

Alleged killers of Indian fishermen are housed in a state guesthouse and being given Italian food

KOCHI ~ Policemen in Kerala are disgusted with the behaviour of two Italian navy men who have been arrested for killing Indian fishermen after mistaking them for pirates. “They did not cooperate from the very beginning. They are contemptuous and arrogant,” says a police officer.

Television channels also aired visuals of the two Italians smoking in public in the presence of the police. Housed in a state guesthouse, they also get Italian food, which includes pizza and baked bread, besides cappuccino, fruit juice and yoghurt.

It was on 15 February that Valentine Jalastine from Kollam in Kerala and Ajeesh Binki from Colachal in Tamil Nadu were shot dead by marines on the Italian ship Enrica Lexie,  which had been sailing off the Kollam coast.  Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Gironi, the two arrested, have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

But in between the killing and the arrest, four days passed and many think that evidence would have been destroyed. “When a crime takes place, it is normal procedure to take the place of occurrence under custody of the police, register an FIR and do the primary investigations. Nothing has been done in this case,” says Sangeeta Lakshmana, a lawyer at the Kerala High Court.

Italy, meanwhile, has argued that the incident occurred in ‘international waters’ and the Indian rule of law is not applicable to the arrested duo. Lawyers for the marines have filed a petition in the High Court to quash the FIR.

Adding to the drama, George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, who was recently made a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI, urged the Kerala Government not to “precipitate action” in the standoff between Italy and India. Alencherry was quoted by an Italian news agency, Fides, in Rome. Later, a spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church told the media in Kerala that the Cardinal had been misquoted.

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Shahina KK