India not showing any willingness to resolve marines case: Italian President

Rome: In a sharp attack, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday accused India of “scarce political will” to provide a “fair solution” into the case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012. [caption id=“attachment_2002257” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Italy said India was not showing willingness to resolve the Italian marines case. AP[/caption] “There has been scarce political will to provide a fair solution,” Napolitano said. “The malfunctioning of the Indian justices system (shows that this problem) is not just an Italian one,” the Italian news agency ANSA quoted the President as saying. He also said that he will meet Premier Matteo Renzi tomorrow to discuss the case. “I’m counting on having a meeting tomorrow morning with Renzi, who will give me the latest developments on the steps taken with respect to the Indian authorities,” he said. The strong reaction came after the Indian Supreme Court rejected a request from one of the marines, Salvatore Girone, to return to Italy for the Christmas holidays and a petition from the other, Massimiliano Latorre, to extend his stay in Italy for health reasons. Latorre had flown to Italy after suffering a stroke-like attack earlier this year. The two Italian marines, accused of killing two fishermen in Kerala in 2012, maintain that they fired at them after mistaking them for pirates while guarding an Italian oil tanker. The marines had been living in the Italian embassy in New Delhi since then waiting to be tried, and were not supposed to leave the country. The situation has led to tense relations between India and Italy, which says that India has no jurisdiction in the case. Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has told State broadcaster RAI here that “The harvest (from the dialogue with India) has been very disappointing. If the agreement is what we saw the other day, then we’re not going very far. I hope that different roads can be found in the next few days.” PTI