Salvatore Girone (Right), along with another Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre (Left) on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', is accused by India of killing two of its fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012. (PTI file photo)
Italian marine Salvatore Girone, held in India on murder charges, will return home "in a few weeks", Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said today.
Girone "will come back to Italy in a few weeks, there are still bureaucratic procedures to go through," Ms Pinotti was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA.
Mr Girone, along with another Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', is accused by India of killing two of its fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012.
He has not been able to leave India, aside from a few brief permits, since the incident.
Mr Latorre is back in Italy after suffering a stroke in 2014 while Mr Girone is staying at the Italian embassy in New Delhi.
Ms Pinotti said a UN tribunal in The Hague allowing Mr Girone back to Italy for the duration of arbitration was "nice news" but the process is long with a verdict not expected before 2018.
"It was nice news we were hoping for and for which we worked silently in close contact with the team of lawyers that handles the international dispute on the two marines," she said.
"The Hague tribunal recognised what we were asking and that is that Girone should return to Italy and live with his family. But the process will still be long," Ms Pinotti said.
"It's not over. We'll have to wait for the outcome of the arbitration, but I'm sure we'll get the right result," she added.