The chief judicial magistrate court in Kollam district on Wednesday rejected two petitions by marines of the Italian ship Enrica Lexie, charged with shooting dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15.
The marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, had in their plea asked the Court to allow joint forensic examination of the weapons used in the shooting incident by Indian and Italian experts.
CJM A K Gopakumar rejected the plea on the ground that the Italians had earlier unilaterally decided not to take part in the joint ballistic test firing allowed by the Court.
If the joint forensic examination was allowed, it would only delay the probe, the court observed.
The marines' plea to provide them with a television set in the prison room at central jail in Thiruvananthapuram was also turned down as prison rules did not have any such provision.
The court, however, said Italian newspapers and magazines could be provided to them in the prison with the permission of jail authorities.
The court had on Monday extended the remand of the two marines for another fortnight. The naval guards were arrested on February 19 and charged with murder of fishermen Valentine Jalastine and Ajesh Binki, who put out to sea from Neendakara coast near Kollam.
They were in police custody in the first 14 days and had been lodged in a special cell in the central prison since March 5 after the court remanded them to judicial custody.The Italian vessel is still anchored off Kochi Port as the Kerala high court is yet to give permission for the vessel to sail.
