'First day as a free man' says cleared India marine

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 1 - Massimiliano Latorre, an Italian marine cleared Monday by a Rome judge of murdering two Indian fishermen in 2012 along with his fellow marine Salvatore Girone, said Tuesday it was his first day as a free man and free soldier after the long legal ordeal.
    "Today, February 1, I woke up for the first time as a free Man and Soldier," Latorre said on social media.
    "I asked myself so many times if I would have the good fortune to relish the joy I am feeling, but today I can rejoice and savour this happiness, which I never felt before, given the health conditions I returned to Italy in in September 2014," he said, referring to serious problems following a stroke.
    A Rome preliminary investigations judge (GIP) on Monday acquitted the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off India after mistaking them for pirates in 2012.
    The GIP's ruling had been expected after prosecutors in December asked the charges against Girone and Latorre to be dropped in the deaths of Valentine Jelastine and Ajeesh Pink.
    The marines were doing anti-piracy duty aboard the merchant ship Enrica Lexie in February 2012 off the coast of Kerala, southern India, when they fired on the Indian fishing boat.
    The GIP ruled, like the prosecutors, that they acted while respecting the rules of engagement.
    He said they were convinced they were under assault from pirates.
    In 2020 Italy got jurisdiction in the case after a long wrangle with India.
    A Hague tribunal ordered the payment of 1.1 million euros to the fishermen's families last June. (ANSA).