Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday extended till August 8 the stay on the proceedings before a Kollam court against two Italian marines facing murder charge for shooting to death two Indian fishermen off Kerala waters in February.
The court had on July 24 stayed the proceedings till Monday. When the matter came up, Justice CT Ravikumar extended the stay and posted the case to August 8 for further hearing.
The government opposed the extension of the stay and the request of the two petitioners Italian marines Latore Masimiliano and Salvatore Girone, challenging the Kollam Sessions Court's order declining their plea for English translation of the chargesheet and other documents in Malayalam and help of an official interpreter.
According to the government, the prosecution has no legal obligation to provide an interpreter in a case involving foreign nationals who are not conversant with the court language of the country.
Kollam Sessions Judge PD Rajan had on July 17 held the marines were not entitled to a translated version of the police report and other documents and posted the case to July 25 for commencement of preliminary hearing of charges.
Challenging this order, the marines approached the high court stating that the accused have the right to know about the contents of the chargesheet and evidence against them collected by the prosecuting agency.
The two, engaged for security of the Italian vessel Enrica Lexie, were arrested on February 19 for allegedly opening fire and killing fishermen Jalestine and Ajesh Binki off Kollam coast. They were granted bail by the high court on May 30 following which they are staying in Kochi.
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