In a bid to find a resolution to the continuing stalemate over the four Italian witnesses required by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to complete its probe into the killing of two Indian fishermen, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Steffan de Mistura met Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid here on Wednesday.
The NIA had initiated the probe following a Supreme Court ruling in April to find out whether Italian marines Salvatore Girone and Massimilano Lattore, who were onboard Italian vessel Enrica Lexie, had killed two Indian fishermen off the Alappuzha coast on February 15, 2012.
The accused marines had claimed that they had fired shots only because they mistook the fishing boat for a pirate skiff.
The four marines, required by the NIA to record their statements, were onboard the ship at the time of the incident.
Italy has refused to send them to India for questioning, stating they were on official duty. It has, however, put forward three options for recording their statement -- visit of a NIA team to Rome, written answers to questions and video-conferencing.
The options are being considered by the Union Ministry of Law and Additional Attorney General, as their statements have to be presented as evidence before the court. The NIA has already questioned Italian civilian personnel who were onboard the ship.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the Centre was also considering options other than the ones suggested by Italy. He, however, didn’t throw any light on the same.
“We have explained to him (de Mistura) that this is a case which relates to legal process and hence it is important to facilitate interaction between the two countries to express legal viewpoint of each one,” he said.
As the Indian Government has agreed to ‘facilitate interaction’ de Mistura has agreed to stay back here. He is likely to have an informal meeting with Khurshid on Thursday. Akbaruddin, however, made it clear that the Centre was not intervening in the case but only facilitating a meeting of two teams of lawyers with differing viewpoint on the legal process. He also ruled out the possibility of out-of-court settlement.
The delay in getting a resolution to this issue is delaying the NIA probe, and therefore the start of the trial. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to submit a report before the Supreme Court on the difficulties being faced in recording the statements of the Italian witnesses.