Marines on agenda of EU-India summit

(ANSA) - Brussels, March 29 - The case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012 will be among the issues addressed at Wednesday's EU-India summit in Brussels, ANSA sources said Tuesday. The meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker will also discuss the case of six British security guards and 14 Estonian nationals who have been handed jail terms by India for illegal possession of arms on a ship.
    The case of the two Italian marines has strained diplomatic relations between Rome and New Delhi.
    The Italian government has taken the case to international arbitration at a United Nations court in The Hague after repeated delays in the handling of the case in India.
    However, the ruling from the arbitration is not due before August 2018.
    The marines case will be among the issues mentioned in the conclusions of the summit, EU sources said.
    The sources said the marines issue was "the most difficult to prepare" in the run-up to the summit, adding that the EU "shares Italy's concerns". They also said that Modi's government is "aware that this issue weighs on the development of relations with the EU". At the summit, the Indian government and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are set to sign an agreement for a 450 million euros loan for the construction of the Lucknow metro. One of the marines, Massimiliano Latorre, was allowed to return to Italy after having a stroke in 2014. The other marine, Salvatore Girone, is not permitted to leave India. Rome argues the case is not in India's jurisdiction as the incident took place outside the country's territorial waters.
    It also says the marines should be exempt from prosecution in India, because they are servicemen who were working on an anti-piracy mission.