Thiruvananthapuram: Two Italian marines who have been in prison in Kerala over the deaths of two Kerala fishermen off the Kollam coast in February, were granted bail on Wednesday by the Kerala High Court. The marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone are accused of shooting dead Valentine Jelestine and Ajesh Binku. Both were granted bail of Rs10 million (Dh654,099) and two individual sureties.
The pair, who were guards on the Italian ship Enrica Lexie, from which the shots were fired at the Kerala fishermen, can enjoy the bail with the additional condition that they cannot leave the territory coming under control of the Kochi police commissioner. The marines will have to hand over their passports to the authorities and are not allowed to meet witnesses when they are on bail.
Before granting bail, the court had rejected an appeal by the Italian government to quash the first information report filed against the two marines.
The state government agreed to bail under strict conditions on Wednesday. Earlier, the Kollam chief judicial magistrate court and the district sessions court had turned down their bail application.
The bail should be a huge relief for the Italian authorities, who have been trying hard to secure the release of the marines from prison. Towards that cause, Italian prime minister Mario Monti had had a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, but it had not been fruitful.
The bail applications had been rejected earlier because the courts felt their presence in the country could not be assured if bail was granted. However, the lawyers for the marines assured the court that they were willing to abide by any conditions given.
