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Boat-owner may move HC to renew pact
After shocking the nation through his volte-face in the Enrica Lexie affair by signing a compensation pact containing controversial conditions with Italy, Freddy, the main witness in the criminal case pertaining to the fishermen-killing incident, is now planning to approach the Kerala High Court to renew that agreement by removing the “illegal” terms.
Freddy, owner of the boat on which the two Indian fishermen were killed in gunfire from the Italian oil tanker on February 15, is intending to renew the pact by removing the terms that are damaging to the murder case charged against two Italian Marines, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s harsh observations against the pacts signed between the affected parties and Italy.
Indicating their intention to get the controversial conditions in the agreement removed, Freddy’s counsel Manoj said in Kollam on Tuesday that the compensation settlement between him and the Italian Government was signed before the High Court and under its supervision. “We are thinking of the steps to be taken in the context of the apex court’s remarks,” he said.
Manoj asserted that Freddy had no intentions of damaging the murder case while entering into the compensation pact with Italy. “Freddy’s agreement with Italy had no connection to the criminal case but it concerns only the civil aspects. As far as the criminal case is concerned, Freddy is with the Prosecution,” the lawyer said.
In a shocking volte-face, Freddy, on whose statements the Enrica Lexie case was first built up, had said in his pact he signed with Italy for a compensation of Rs 17 lakh towards the damages suffered by his boat in the gunfire from Enrica Lexie on February 15, that there was no need for putting the two Italian Marines arrested for the murder of the two fishermen.
Among the three pacts signed by Italy over the incident, the one with Freddy was the most damaging to the criminal case because he had effectively turned hostile with the conditions he had agreed to. It was on the basis of the statements he had made after the incident that the police had prepared the FIR against the Italian Marines arrested for murdering the two fishermen.
After the incident, Freddy had said that what had happened on his boat was a brutal manslaughter by the Italians with “bullets coming towards us like rain”. However, after signing the pact on April 27, he said he had not seen where the bullets had come from and had no idea whether it was the Marines who had fired at them.
Senior lawyers of the High Court now expect the legal heirs of the two murdered fishermen, who had signed agreements with Italy on April 24 agreeing to end their cases for the compensation of Rs 1 crore each, might also approach the court to get the illegal conditions removed from the agreements.
Dora, widow of victim Valentine alias Jelestine, and their children Derrick and Jean and Abhinaya and Aguna, sisters of Ajesh Binku the other victim, had stated in the agreements they had signed with Italy that they would withdraw all the cases they had been pursuing and would not initiate any case against the Italians in any court inside or outside India in the future.
“The Supreme Court’s observations in the past two days against the compensation settlements are sure to force the victims’ relatives and their lawyers to view the conditions they had agreed to in a new light like in the case of Freddy. I think they too will be approaching the court in the coming days,” said a senior lawyer of the High Court.
After shocking the nation through his volte-face in the Enrica Lexie affair by signing a compensation pact containing controversial conditions with Italy, Freddy, the main witness in the criminal case pertaining to the fishermen-killing incident, is now planning to approach the Kerala High Court to renew that agreement by removing the “illegal” terms.
Freddy, owner of the boat on which the two Indian fishermen were killed in gunfire from the Italian oil tanker on February 15, is intending to renew the pact by removing the terms that are damaging to the murder case charged against two Italian Marines, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s harsh observations against the pacts signed between the affected parties and Italy.
Indicating their intention to get the controversial conditions in the agreement removed, Freddy’s counsel Manoj said in Kollam on Tuesday that the compensation settlement between him and the Italian Government was signed before the High Court and under its supervision. “We are thinking of the steps to be taken in the context of the apex court’s remarks,” he said.
Manoj asserted that Freddy had no intentions of damaging the murder case while entering into the compensation pact with Italy. “Freddy’s agreement with Italy had no connection to the criminal case but it concerns only the civil aspects. As far as the criminal case is concerned, Freddy is with the Prosecution,” the lawyer said.
In a shocking volte-face, Freddy, on whose statements the Enrica Lexie case was first built up, had said in his pact he signed with Italy for a compensation of Rs 17 lakh towards the damages suffered by his boat in the gunfire from Enrica Lexie on February 15, that there was no need for putting the two Italian Marines arrested for the murder of the two fishermen.
Among the three pacts signed by Italy over the incident, the one with Freddy was the most damaging to the criminal case because he had effectively turned hostile with the conditions he had agreed to. It was on the basis of the statements he had made after the incident that the police had prepared the FIR against the Italian Marines arrested for murdering the two fishermen.
After the incident, Freddy had said that what had happened on his boat was a brutal manslaughter by the Italians with “bullets coming towards us like rain”. However, after signing the pact on April 27, he said he had not seen where the bullets had come from and had no idea whether it was the Marines who had fired at them.
Senior lawyers of the High Court now expect the legal heirs of the two murdered fishermen, who had signed agreements with Italy on April 24 agreeing to end their cases for the compensation of Rs 1 crore each, might also approach the court to get the illegal conditions removed from the agreements.
Dora, widow of victim Valentine alias Jelestine, and their children Derrick and Jean and Abhinaya and Aguna, sisters of Ajesh Binku the other victim, had stated in the agreements they had signed with Italy that they would withdraw all the cases they had been pursuing and would not initiate any case against the Italians in any court inside or outside India in the future.
“The Supreme Court’s observations in the past two days against the compensation settlements are sure to force the victims’ relatives and their lawyers to view the conditions they had agreed to in a new light like in the case of Freddy. I think they too will be approaching the court in the coming days,” said a senior lawyer of the High Court.
