Maritime court to hear Italian marines case

BERLIN: A Germany-based international tribunal said Monday it would open hearings next month on a deadly 2012 maritime incident that sparked a diplomatic dispute between Italy and India.
Two Italian marines serving aboard an oil tanker as part of an anti-piracy mission allegedly fired the shots that killed two Indian fishermen on a boat off India’s southern Kerala state.
The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea said its president, Judge Vladimir Golitsyn, would on Aug. 10 open a public hearing expected to last two days.
India detained the two marines days after the February 2012 shootings and a trial in its courts is pending. Italy has argued the shooting occurred in international waters and should be dealt with under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In its request to the Hamburg tribunal, Italy demanded that “India shall refrain from taking or enforcing any judicial or administrative measures” against the marines. It also asked that “restrictions on the liberty, security and movement of the marines be immediately lifted.”