The incident involving our marines was a matter of fundamental importance which I do not hesitate to describe today – given the context in which we live in – as an exemplary kind of commitment and sensitivity toward our armed forces, the personnel, our national interests and our homeland. This is demonstrated by the parliamentary activity of those years, the activities at conferences and in public squares, the countless press releases and minute-by-minute statements by Prime Minister Meloni, President La Russa, Minister Crosetto, Hon. Fidanza, my friends from Ferrara and of Brothers of Italy party, youngsters: it was a strong commitment of our party.
For me, this meeting today is an opportunity to once again express my deep friendship and admiration for Massimiliano Latorre. I thank him for never stopping telling us this page of history. Today is also a particularly important moment for our collective and national memory, which must teach us much about our foreign policy, security, and defense interests.
It is an emblematic case from which we must develop a true culture of security and defense in Italian society. A culture that is coherent and necessary for our identity as Italians and Europeans, in accordance with Article 52 of the Constitution. The lessons learned from this incident must be highlighted in red. On the positive side, first and foremost, is the immense value of the leader of the marines assigned to the oil tanker Enrica Lexie, Massimiliano Latorre, who is here with us this evening, and his men.
Then there is the value of the armed forces as a whole, with the exception – let me say – of the then Minister of Defense, a former admiral. I refer to the armed forces as a whole because I cannot fail to mention, on the positive side, the concerted response of all the military personnel on duty from the very first hours in support of our marines’ mission on Enrica Lexie. They were there to conduct counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations abroad, missions that must be protected and supported in every way possible by the State. Our military personnel on these missions are organs of the State, represent Italy, and risk their lives for all of us.
There is a sacred duty, written into our Constitution: to defend our homeland. It is a founding and unshakeable principle, which this affair teaches us – it cannot be traded for anything else. However, there were many dark, critical chapters in those pages. Chapters that must be carefully read and understood, lest they be repeated. I will summarize what, in my opinion, were the most glaring and indisputable events, where errors were committed and unforgivable decisions were made.
First, the oil tanker had been threatened by an approaching vessel that did not respond to any dissuasive signals from our lagoon officials. These were indisputably international waters, as later recognized by international justice. The applicable jurisdiction was solely Italian. Instead—and here is the mistake that led to the confusion of the entire affair—it was Enrica Lexie’s change of course from international to Indian waters. When my chief of staff informed me of what was happening, I had him immediately send a communication to the Ministry of Defense, strongly recommending, since I had no operational decision-making power, that the tanker remain in international waters. There were Italian units in that area, with every possibility of protecting the Italian merchant vessel at all costs. I was shortly thereafter informed that, under pressure from the tanker’s owner, the operational command in Rome had decided to follow the instructions of the Indian Coast Guard in Kochi.
SERIOUS MISTAKE: the gross submission—in such a sensitive matter of national security and defense—to considerations of a different nature, evidently dictated by a lack of knowledge of the facts or an inconceivable superficiality of analysis, or perhaps even by economic interests. The superficiality of satisfying commercial interests, in a context in which, in truth, from a legal and operational standpoint, we – the Italian authorities – were the ones with the power to make the choice: that reversal of direction, that superficial choice, was never paid for by anyone: only by the marines and even by those who were always close to them.
Second, this first mistake led to a chain reaction of errors: the ship docked at the port of Kochi, was placed under surveillance by Indian forces, who boarded it and disembarked our marines. All these were consequential violations that put our soldiers in grave danger upon disembarkation. Latorre and Girone were put on a van that was attacked by an enraged mob who wanted to lynch them (I showed the photos in Parliament). In those hours, two fishermen from the area had been killed by gunfire at sea, and the crowd believed that the Italian marines were to blame for their deaths. It would later emerge that the incident occurred more than 100 km away from the tanker carrying the marines, but—here’s another mistake—the media immediately sided with the Indian victims, assuming that our men in uniform were responsible, simply because the Indian authorities claimed so. But everything from the first days after the landing pointed to the belief that the incident hadn’t happened there, hadn’t happened with those shells, and that none of the conditions allegedly blamed on our marines existed.
SERIOUS MISTAKE: how many Italian newspapers wrote that the two marines were hunting poor Indian sailors? These are the horrendous things we’ve read and seen: pure misinformation. I want to remember those who, hungry for the truth, didn’t fall for these traps.
The first was Maria Giovanna Maglie. Maria Giovanna Maglie was a journalist and a friend of our Fratelli d’Italia movement, and like a true warrior, she wrote pages and pages debunking the falsehoods about the marines. The second protagonist, the one who for me represents not only a friend but an extraordinary symbol of the valor of a high-ranking officer of our military engineering corps, is Ferrando Termentini. He was active from the very beginning: it was he who provided evidence—which was later legally recognized by the International Court of Arbitration—that the incident involving the two fishermen had nothing to do with the marines, using evidence from civilian and satellite reconnaissance.
Third, the worst of the worst. After all these mistakes, there was still room for redress. The government had managed to bring the marines back to Italy, and with a precise plan shared by the highest institutional and government leaders—one that I personally promoted. The marines were supposed to remain in Italy until the conclusion of an international arbitration procedure provided for by the Convention on the Law of the Sea, already underway at the Hamburg court.
SERIOUS MISTAKE: by choosing to send the marines back to India, the Monti government violated a fundamental principle of our Constitution and established in case law: a principle that had been clearly explained at the time by the Ministry of Justice in a communication to all the ministers concerned and to the Prime Minister himself. The decision was whether to submit to the demands of Sonia Gandhi’s Indian government, and therefore to send back the two marines, who after many months of detention in India had returned to Italy with leave related to the elections, or to keep them at home. On this point, we must be clear, because the Ministry of Justice’s guidance was crystal clear: the two marines were liable to capital punishment under Indian anti-terrorism law. According to our Constitution and the European human rights conventions, they could not therefore be extradited. On the night the postponement of the marines was discussed, I firmly opposed it, also on the basis of these considerations, with a formal letter to the Prime Minister.
What can we learn from these events, and from the words of Massimiliano Latorre? This story is a warning to public opinion and the political world about the fundamental importance of a true culture of security in Italy. This culture is a culture of identity because it responds to an ethical principle rooted in the conscience of our nation: no citizen who defends his or her homeland can be left behind, neglected, or not effectively supported. But it is also a culture of identity because it concerns the need, today, to foster awareness of values and history, and therefore of culture, in Italian society. The challenges we are immersed in no longer allow for distractions, bargaining, or superficiality, as occurred from February 2012 until the conclusion of the international arbitration. That arbitration demonstrated all the errors made by the government from the beginning and, at the same time, the full merits of Italy and our marines.
So I want to close by sincerely thanking Massimiliano Latorre for reminding us of all this, and President Senator Alberto Balboni and Deputy Mayor Alessandro Balboni for shining a light on this story. Because nothing heals wounds better than sunlight. Thank you.