This Article is From Mar 08, 2012

Fishermen killings: Don't set dangerous precedent, Italian Prime Minister tells Manmohan Singh

Fishermen killings: Don't set dangerous precedent, Italian Prime Minister tells Manmohan Singh
New Delhi: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night after which an Italian statement said that he had warned against India setting a "dangerous precedent" with the prosecution of two Italian Marines in Kerala.

The two sides put out different versions of what transpired during the call over the two Marines who have been held in Kochi on charges of murder after they allegedly shot
dead two Indian fishermen.

"Any attitude from the Indian side that is not fully in line with international laws risks creating a dangerous precedent for international peacekeeping and anti-piracy mission," Monti was quoted as saying to the Indian leader.

"The alleged incident, the circumstances of which have still to be clarified, occured in international waters and jurisdiction is therefore only Italian,"Monti told Singh, according to a government statement in Rome.

The PMO in New Delhi said both the leaders spoke about last month's tragic incident and the Italian leader expressed regret over it.

Jelastine and Ajesh Binki, the two fishermen, were allegedly shot dead by the two Italian marine guards off the Kollam coast on February 15, suspecting them to be pirates.

"The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of deepening relations between India and Italy and agreed that the issues that had arisen following the incident should be resolved amicably in accordance with law and in the spirit of friendship that characterises relations between the two countries," it said.

The two leaders said that they were looking forward to meeting each other at the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
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