Court rejects Italy's plea on arms examination

Kollam : A court here today rejected the Italian government’s plea to allow their representatives to be present during forensic examination of arms seized from the ship Enrica Lexie in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on 15 February. However, it allowed the plea for their representatives to be present during unsealing of the weapon boxes and the test firing of the guns by ballistic experts. Earlier in the day, the court disallowed an application filed on behalf of the two naval guards, seeking a similar request, holding that it could not entertain such a request. Both the orders were issued by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Aneesh Kumar here. [caption id=“attachment_229768” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Italian marines Salvatore Girone, center, and Massimiliano Latorre. AP”]  [/caption] While senior Supreme Court advocate Abhixit Singh appeared for the petitioners, the prosecution was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Manjula Itty. The arms were seized from the ship by the Special Investigating Team probing the case, headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar on Saturday. The sealed boxes with the firearms were produced before the court here two days back,which ordered that they be taken to the Government Forensic Laboratory in Thiruvanthapuram for scientific examination. The fishermen, Valentine Jalastine and Ajesh Binki, were allegedly shot dead by the two Italian marine guards Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, who are now in police custody after being charged with murder. PTI