In Enrica Lexie case, Itilian military officers breached India's freedom of navigation: MEA
Jul 02, 2020
New Delhi [India], July 2 : The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the Arbitral Tribunal, constituted on request of Italy in respect of dispute concerning incident involving Italian tanker Enrica Lexie and Indian fishing vessel St. Anthony in 2012, has held the Itilian military officers of breaching India's freedom of navigation.
The MEA said that the Tribunal has also held that New Delhi is entitled to compensation for loss of life, material damage to property as well as moral harm by the incident.
"Arbitral Tribunal, constituted on request of Italy in respect of dispute concerning incident involving Italian tanker Enrica Lexie and Indian fishing vessel St. Anthony in 2012, has upheld conduct of Indian authorities with relation to the incident under provisions of UNCLOS," Anurag Srivastava, MEA spokesperson, said during a weekly briefing.
"Tribunal held that actions of Italian military officers breached India's freedom of navigation under UNCLOS Article 87(1A) and 90 and decided that India is entitled to compensation for loss of life, material damage to property and moral harm suffered by captain and crew of St. Anthony," he said.
"The tribunal also held that the parties are invited to consult with each other with a view to reaching an agreement on the amount of compensation due to India," the spokesperson added.
On 15 February 2012, two Indian fishermen were killed off the coast of Kerala, India, aboard the St. Antony. India alleged that the two Italian marines aboard the Italian-flagged commercial oil tanker MV Enrica Lexie killed the fishermen.
Shortly after the incident, the Indian Navy intercepted the MV Enrica Lexie and detained the two Italian marines that sparked a conflict of opinions over legal jurisdiction and functional immunity between the governments of India and Italy and has continued to cause diplomatic tension between the two nations.
After having been detained in India with no formal charges for two and four years, respectively, the two marines were finally released and returned to Italy. Meanwhile, an independent United Nations court was charged to resolve the conflict of jurisdiction. 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".
