Italian marines' lawyer says he won't argue their case in SC

After the melee over the departure of the two Italian marines, accused of shooting and killing two Indian fishermen, their lawyer in the Supreme Court has said that he would not defend their decision not to return to India. Senior lawyer Harish Salve said the wouldn’t defend the Italian government’s decision not to send back the marines and the Italian government should honour its declaration before the court. In a statement, the lawyer said,“I consider this action of the Republic of Italy as a breach of faith. It is my perception that the Italian Government should have, in the least, forewarned its Indian lawyers of the change of its position before communicating it to the Government of India.” [caption id=“attachment_658366” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] “In these circumstances, I have informed the Italian ambassador that it will no longer be possible for me to appear for me to be associated with this case,” he said. Salve had argued on behalf of the Italian government and had put forward their argument to quash the ongoing case against the marines. The lawyer had claimed that he came to know of the Italian government’s decision not to send back the marines only from the media. The Supreme Court had allowed the two marines to return to Italy for the presidential elections after the Italian ambassador to India said he would take the responsibility for their return. “It was an act of faith in a friendly government that the Government of India did not oppose this request, and an act of grace on the part of the Supreme Court of India to grant the permission sought for,” Salve said. The Indian government has since summoned the Italian ambassador to express its dismay over the marines not returning to India and some reports indicated that the Italian ambassador could even be asked to leave even as other options like snapping diplomatic ties and cancelling business contracts with Italian companies. The Indian government presently does not have an ambassador in Rome but may not send a replacement in the event of ties being snapped between the two countries.