Court permits presence of Italian representative

KOLLAM: Admitting a petition by the Italian Government, the Kollam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Friday allowed the presence of two Italian representatives during the examination of weapons seized from the ship Enrica Lexie.CJM A K Gopakumar, while conditionally admitting the plea after hearing the versions of the Director of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and the prosecution, allowed two Italian ballistic experts (named in the order as Major Flebus Luca and Major Fratini Paolo) to be present as silent observers during the examination at the FSL. The court had earlier permitted Italian representatives to be present during the unsealing and test firing of the weapons. The prosecution, while presenting the version of the Director of the FSL, said that the interference of Italian representatives would harm the confidentiality of the examination. However, as the court had given permission to the Italian representatives to be present during the test firing and unsealing process, one representative can be permitted as a silent spectator, the prosecution said. The court also allowed the presence of a Ballistic expert from the Indian Navy to be present during the examination of weapons, if needed. The investigating officers can consult with the Navy regarding the matter and the name of the expert from Navy has to be informed to the Director of the FSL, the order states. Meanwhile, the Defence Counsel, represented by Sunil Maheswaran Pillai, prayed for the presence of four Italian representatives during the examination. The application of the defence stated that as the seized arms and ammunitions belonged to the Italian Military and since a parallel investigation was going on in Italy, the presence of the representatives were necessary.