An Indian Supreme Court
hearing on April 30 will reconsider whether to permit the the
SUA Act to be applied in the case of two Italian marines held
for the 2012 killing of two fishermen. The SUA Act calls for the
automatic application of the death penalty in case of conviction
for murder.
The Supreme court will hear both an appeal made by the
marines to strike the use of the NIA investigative police, and
with that the SUA Act as well. The court will at the same
hearing consider an appeal for the application of the law made
by an elderly fisherman who was on the boat with those who died.
The fisherman Kilsariyan made an appeal against the Indian
State petitioning that "the main provisions" of the SUA Act and
of the Admiralty Offences (Colonial Act) be applied, and that
the case be reintroduced to a special court in New Delhi.
On November 10, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that the
fisherman Kilsariyan's appeal was admissible, and attached it to
the dossier of Latorre and Girone.
The use of the SUA Act had been stricken from the case
last year after an Italian appeal and vigorous protest by the
Italian government.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone have been held
without charge since February 2012 in connection with the
shooting deaths of two fishermen, whom they allegedly mistook
for pirates. Last year they petitioned the Supreme Court not to
allow India to use its NIA anti-terrorism police to probe the
case, arguing that the NIA has no jurisdiction over the
incident.
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