Italian marine Girone to spend fourth Xmas in India

(ANSA) - New Delhi, December 2 - Italian marine Salvatore Girone is preparing to spend his fourth Christmas in India, and although his family will be with him, he said he's tired of the "unacceptable routine" that forces his family to travel to see him and keeps him far from other loved ones and friends in Italy, a defence source told ANSA on Wednesday.
    Girone is one of two Italian marines accused by India of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012.
    The other marine, Massimiliano Latorre, was granted leave to return to Italy last year after suffering a stroke.
    Girone is under provisional liberty which requires him to sign in weekly at the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri.
    The defence source said Girone's family situation is "deteriorating, because of the distance and the weight of household management that falls entirely on his wife".
    Girone will be joined in India by his children Michele, 14, and Martina, 9, along with his wife and his parents, and will spend Christmas in his small quarters inside the Italian embassy.
    Meanwhile on Wednesday, Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said, "Italy maintains that the continuing state of deprivation of personal freedom for riflemen Latorre and Girone affects the Italian right to exercise exclusive jurisdiction on the case and their functional immunity as in-service military".
    Italy has taken the case to international arbitration after a long series of delays.
    In August, the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea stated that India has no jurisdiction over the case and put it up to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which in November set up an international tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration to handle it.