Rome: Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi announced to resign on Tuesday over government’s decision to return two Italian marines to India to face murder charges.
“I resign in contention with the decision to send the marines back to India. The misgivings I expressed had no effect on the decision taken,” he told parliament. “I am resigning because for 40 years I have maintained, and still maintain, that the reputation of the country, the armed forces and Italian diplomacy, should be safeguarded.”
Italy last week returned to India two marines charged with the murder of two Indian fishermen off the coast of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala last year, reversing an earlier decision of not sending back the marines that had escalated diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The Italian government claimed that Indian authorities gave it “ample assurances” that the marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, would receive their due fundamental rights while being trialed in India.
DND
