Bringing the two Italian
marines detained in India back to Italy remains an Italian
government priority, Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said
Monday after one of the pair was hospitalized with a condition
similar to a mild stroke.
"I feel close to Massimiliano Latorre and I wish with all
my heart that he can get back as soon as possible," Mogherini
said in a statement.
She reiterated that message to Paola Moschetti, companion
of marine Massimiliano Latorre who has been hospitalized in New
Delhi, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Doctors said Latorre has been responding well to treatment
in the neurology department after he lost consciousness due to a
mild cerebral ischemia, or restriction of blood supply.
"As it has always been in these months, we follow the case
of the two marine riflemen every day, with the aim of bringing
them back to Italy: it is a priority for the government," added
Mogherini who on Saturday became the European Union high
commissioner for foreign policy.
Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti flew to New Delhi to check
on his condition and to show support for Latorre's family
members who are with him in India.
Doctors said they were "pleased with how he responded to
the first treatment," according to a statement from the Italian
defence ministry.
Latorre and Salvatore Girone are living at the Italian
embassy in New Delhi after being detained in connection with the
shooting deaths of two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy
mission in 2012.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen
Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly
mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing
trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged
oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February
15, 2012.
Rome has protested a long series of delays in the case,
which has caused major diplomatic friction between the
countries.
The frustration was displayed Monday by Giulia Latorre,
daughter of Massimiliano, in an angry post on her Facebook page.
"What great news...My father has had an ischemia. Sadly
there is never good news, only sh***y news," wrote Giulia
Latorre.
"You, s***y Italy, let them stay there a bit more", she
said, referring to the length of time that has passed with no
resolution in the case.
Italy successfully fought to ensure that the Indian
government took the death penalty off the table in the case and
that it dropped the application of a severe anti-terrorism,
anti-piracy law, which it said would have equated Italy with a
terrorist state.
Nicola Latorre, Democratic Party (PD) chairman of the
Senate defence committee, blamed the "unjust detention in India"
of the two marines for creating overwhelming stress for the pair
and contributing to Massimiliano Latorre's illness.
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