The Supreme Court of India [official website] ruled Thursday that Salvatore Girone, the Italian marine under investigation for the killing of two fisherman, is free to go home while India and Italy await the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration [official website] in The Hague. The decision [Reuters report] comes within a month of a statement [JURIST report] by India’s Ministry of External Affairs that it would allow Salvatore Girone to return home pending the Supreme Court’s adjudication of the case. This decision sparked the ire [Indian Express report] of the Indian National Congress, which accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi [official websites] of having an underhanded deal with his Italian counterpart for not objecting to the Supreme Court’s relaxation of Girone’s bail conditions. The court conditioned Girone’s release on the surrender of his passport to the Italian government upon his return to the country and ordered that he will be required to return to India within a month of any order from the tribunal in favor of the government of India. Despite the Italian foreign ministry’s satisfaction with the Court’s decision, the Indian government has expressed confidence that the tribunal will ultimately rule in its favor.

The “Enrica Lexie Incident” took place in 2012 when two Italian marines, Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, shot and killed two Indian fishermen [DNA India report], Ajesh Binki and Valentine, believing them to be pirates. The killing sparked international controversy, and also created questions regarding jurisdiction. Last year the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered India [order, PDF] to suspend the trial [JURIST report] of the two Italian marines. In July the India Supreme Court heard [Reuters report] a plea from Italy challenging India’s jurisdiction. In 2012 Rome compensated the victims’ families with $190,000, and the families dropped their cases against the marines, but the state did not follow suit.