#ItalianMarines: ASG PS Narasimha to fly to Germany to oppose interim release of marine

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha will be representing India before the International Tribunal for Law of Sea (ITLOS) at Hamburg, Germany in the case pertaining to Italian Marines who are being tried for murder in India..Narasimha will fly to Germany tomorrow for the hearing, which will be held from August 9th – 11th..The hearing will be limited to the point whether the marine, who is still in India, should be released in the interim and allowed to go back to Italy pending the resolution of the dispute before the forum under the United Nations Convention on Law of Seas..One of the two marines was allowed to go back to Italy in September 2014 after he suffered a brain stroke. Initially, he was allowed to leave the country for 4 months but subsequently, this was extended..The Italian government is seeking to invoke the arbitration as per UNCLOS to decide the dispute. This current hearing before the tribunal is to decide whether the marine who is still in India should be released in the interim while the main dispute is decided by arbitral tribunal..India will be opposing this interim release on the point that grounds for grant of interim relief are not present in the instant case – there is no urgency for him to be released or an irreparable loss which will be caused if he is not released..Update: According to this report, two foreign lawyers, Alain Pellet and R Bundy, will be representing India’s case before the ITLOS with Narasimha assisting them. Pellet and Bundy are experts in international arbitration, states the report.