Somewhere in Rome....

Italian foreign minister Giulio Terzi quit in protest over the return of two Italian marines to India to face murder charges. “I resign in contention with the decision to send the marines back to India. The misgivings I expressed had no effect on the decision taken,” he told parliament.
“I am resigning because for 40 years I have maintained, and still maintain, that the reputation of the country, the armed forces and Italian diplomacy, should be safeguarded,” he said. “I am also standing down in solidarity with our two marines and their families,” the foreign minister added.
Terzi’s colleague, defence minister Giampaolo Di Paola, however, took an almost contradicting stand: “I have always acted for the good of the marines and Italy. If I haven't managed that, I ask forgiveness from everyone, and first of all from both of them,” Paola told parliament.
“It was me who told them about the decision to return them to India, I looked them in the eyes and told them,” he said. Di Paolo said he was not resigning because he had promised the marines he would not abandon them.
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, accused of shooting dead two fishermen off the coast of Kerala in February last year, were sent back to New Delhi on Friday. The pair, serving as security guards on an Italian oil tanker, Enrica Lexie, off Kochi last year, claim they mistook the fishermen for pirates. They returned to New Delhi after India gave an assurance that they will not face death penalty nor arrested, bringing to an end a raging 11-day diplomatic row between the two countries. The marines were accompanied by Italian deputy foreign minister Steffan de Mistura in a military plane.
Following a lengthy dispute over the case, the Supreme Court had granted the two men bail to fly home to vote in Italy's general election last month on condition they would be sent back to New Delhi within a month. Italy agreed and its ambassador signed an affidavit taking personal responsibility to return them, which led to fury in India, when Rome announced that it was reneging on its commitment.
As the diplomatic crisis escalated, India forbade the ambassador from leaving the country and airports were put on alert. Rome's unexpected decision to return Latorre and Girone sparked anger in Italy, particularly because the men were told they would not be sent back. The two marines were already granted special permission once before to go home to Italy to celebrate Christmas with their families, before returning to India as planned.
The dramatic u-turn by the Italian government, which had earlier said the two marines would not be sent back, enabled the marines to meet the deadline set by the Supreme Court. Italy had said it was important to suspend the diplomatic assurance on sending back its marines as it needed to obtain assurances from India that the soldiers won't face death penalty.
Defending their initial decision not to send back their marines even at the cost of breach of assurance, Mistura had said in New Delhi that death penalty was unacceptable.