No death penalty for Italian marines: reports

The Home Ministry today revised sanctions to prosecute the two Italian marines who are accused of killing two Kerala fishermen. However, CNN-IBN reports that, they can’t be slapped with death penalty by the court. [caption id=“attachment_1378981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Italian marines accused of killing to Kerala fishermen. PTI[/caption] Earlier reports had suggested that the marines may escape death penalty because the Home Ministry has agreed to not press for capital punishment against them. The ministry was of the opinion that the duo, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, should be tried under anti-terrorism Suppression of Unlawful Acts against safety of Maritime Navigation And Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act but the provision for death penalty should not be invoked. However, Italy’s special envoy Staffan de Mistura earlier said that his country would “forcefully oppose” any move by Indian authorities to press charges against the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen under an anti-terror law that carries the death penalty or to postpone a court decision. The two marines facing trial in India for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their trawler. Latorre and Girone were guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala 15 February, 2012. With agency inputs