Enrica Lexie case

The Enrica Lexie case was an international controversy about a shooting off the western coast of India. On 15 February 2012, two Indian fishermen were killed off the coast of Kerala, India, aboard St. Antony. India alleged that two Italian marines aboard the Italian-flagged commercial oil tanker MB Enrica Lexie killed the fishermen.[1] Shortly after the incident, the Indian Navy intercepted Enrica Lexie and detained the two Italian marines. That sparked a conflict over legal jurisdiction and functional immunity between the governments of India and Italy.[citation needed]

After they were detained in India with no formal charges for two and four years, respectively, the two marines were released and returned to Italy. Meanwhile, an independent United Nations court was charged to resolve the jurisdictional conflict.[2] That was following a European Parliament resolution of January 2015, stating that "no charge has been brought by the Indian authorities" and that "Italian marines' detention without charge is a serious breach of their human rights".[3]

On 2 July 2020, the Permanent Court of Arbitration recognized the functional immunity of the two Italian marines, noting that they were engaged in a mission on behalf of the Italian Government, and thus ruled that the process should continue in Italy.[4] Italy was required to agree with India on compensation for the deaths and for the physical and moral damage to the crew members and the vessel.[5] On 31 January 2022, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Tribunal of Rome dismissed all accusations against Latorre and Girone, arguing that they opened fire because they believed to be in the presence of pirates.[6]

The incident drew attention to the practice of commercial shipping using armed guards.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ "Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Enrica Lexie Incident (Italy v. India)". 26 June 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  2. ^ "India lets Italian marine go home as UN mediates over fishermen shooting". The Guardian. Associated Press. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. ^ "MEPs call for Italian marò accused of killing Indian fishermen to be repatriated - News - European Parliament". 15 January 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Cases | PCA-CPA". pca-cpa.org. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "I marò Latorre e Girone sono stati assolti perché spararono convinti di essere sotto attacco". Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (in Italian). 1 February 2022.
  7. ^ Isenberg, David (30 October 2012). "Why Fighting Pirates Is Both Good and Bad for PSC". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Private Security and Armed Military Guards: Minimising State Liability in the Fight Against Maritime Piracy". RUSI Journal. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  9. ^ Brown, James. "Pirates and Privateers: Managing the Indian Ocean's Private Security Boom". Lowy Institute for International Policy. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.