Italy’s defiance is unacceptable: Sonia

AFP/New Delhi

Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born head of the Congress Party, yesterday accused Rome of an unacceptable “betrayal” as she waded into a bitter dispute over two marines who have skipped bail.

Gandhi told a party meeting that she supported any move to ensure the two marines return to India to face murder charges after Rome reneged on an earlier undertaking to India’s Supreme Court from the Italian ambassador.

“The defiance of the Italian government on the question of the two marines issue and its betrayal of a commitment given to our Supreme Court is outright unacceptable,” Gandhi said in New Delhi.

“No country can, should, or will be allowed to take India for granted,” said Gandhi, the widow of slain former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Italy has accused India of violating laws on diplomatic immunity by preventing the ambassador, Daniele Mancini, from leaving the country.

But Gandhi, India’s most powerful politician, who took Indian citizenship in 1983, said action had to be taken to ensure the pledge to return the marines is fulfilled.

“All means must be pursued to ensure that the commitment made by the Italian government before the Supreme Court is honoured,” Gandhi said.

The marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, are accused of shooting dead two fishermen off the coast of Kerala in February last year, when a fishing boat sailed close to an Italian oil tanker they were guarding.

They say they mistook the fishermen for pirates.

Gandhi’s comments yesterday were her first on the affair and came after opposition accused her of conspiring to help the marines evade justice.

A local leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was quoted last week as saying Gandhi “plotted” to help the marines, while a communist lawmaker in Kerala said that “secret hands of Italy’ had been working on their behalf.

The pair had been given permission to fly home to vote in last month’s Italian general election on the condition that they would return and present themselves before a judge in New Delhi where their case is being heard.

But the Italian foreign ministry announced last week that the men would not return in view of what it described as a “formal international controversy” between the two countries.

New Delhi has warned of “consequences” and is reviewing its ties with Italy, while the case is being watched carefully internationally because it could set precedents over the treatment of foreign diplomats.

India has put its airports on alert to prevent Mancini from leaving the country and the Supreme Court issued instructions that “appropriate steps” should be taken to restrain him.

Without diplomatic immunity, he could be prosecuted for contempt of court.

Italy meanwhile has accused India of violating laws on diplomatic immunity by preventing its ambassador from leaving the country.

EU warns India over bar on Italian envoy

India would be breaking international law if it stops Italy’s ambassador from leaving the country in a dispute over two Italian marines charged with killing two Indian fishermen, the European Union said yesterday. The statement was the bloc’s most forceful intervention yet in the festering dispute over the marines which has soured relations between India and EU-member Italy. India’s top court last week temporarily barred the envoy, Daniele Mancini, from leaving after Rome refused to send the marines back to India to face trial following a home visit. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton noted the Indian court’s ruling about the ambassador “with concern,” Ashton’s spokesman said. Ashton regarded the 1961 Vienna Convention, which sets rules for diplomatic relations, as a cornerstone of the international legal order that should be respected at all times, he said in a statement. “Any limitations to the freedom of movement of the ambassador of Italy to India would be contrary to the international obligations established under this convention,” he added. “(Ashton) continues to hope that a mutually acceptable solution can be found through dialogue and in respect of international rules and encourages the parties to explore all avenues to that effect,” the statement said.