Enrica Lexie owners asked to pay Rs3cr bank guarantee

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Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked owners of Italian vessel, Enrica Lexie, to submit a bank guarantee of Rs3 crore towards compensation claims even as talks between Foreign Ministers of India and Italy failed to resolve differences over the trial of the two Italian marines who shot and killed two Indian fishermen on February 15.

Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and C T Ravikumar asked the court Registrar to verify the bank guarantee submitted and to release the vessel, though without prejudice to other related cases.
Earlier, the court sought possibilities of an out-of-court settlement. Enrica counsel V J Mathews argued the issue would end after the Piravom bye-polls but the court said it was not bothered about the election.
To another question, the counsel said the captain of the ship was not responsible for the shooting and the marines were under the control of the Italian Ministry.
In New Delhi, the External Affairs Minister, Mr S M Krishna, and Italian counterpart, Mr Guilio Terzi di Sant' Agata, met the media after talks.

While Italy argued that the killing took place in the high seas and the case should be tried according to international laws, India maintained it was very close to the Indian coast, mandating trial under Indian laws.

Krishna said: “There is a very strong public opinion on both sides. Minister Terzi and I agreed that
we need to clear the air so that people in both countries are reassured.”

Terzi regretted the loss of Indian lives, saying the “unfortunate” incident was the result of the piracy threat in the Indian Ocean region.
Putting up a brave face, both Ministers asserted that ties between the two countries continued on an upward spiral despite contrary views over the issue.

In an attempt to “isolate and insulate” the incident from the larger picture of the relationship that exists between the two countries, Mr Krishna expressed his gratitude to Terzi for his personal involvement in helping the Sikh residents of Italy.