India has for the first time officially spelled out conditions under which it will allow a murder accused Italian marine to return home, following frenetic attempts by both nations to resolve their biggest diplomatic crisis in decades. The combination of an Italian commitment and guarantees set by an international tribunal will suffice for India to allow Salvatore Girone, the marine, to return home, New Delhi has told the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague in testimony accessed by The Telegraph. India has so far unambiguously objected, before the Supreme Court and an international tribunal based in Hamburg, to Italian demands that Girone be allowed to fly out of New Delhi. Girone and fellow Italian sergeant Massimiliano Latorre are accused of shooting dead two fishermen off the coast of Kerala in February 2012, and a long-drawn-out legal and diplomatic battle between India and Italy since then has dragged ties to their lowest since 1947. Latorre is already in Italy, allowed by the Supreme Court, where he is recovering from a brain tumour. Formally, India has iterated its opposition to allowing Girone to return to Italy even before the PCA, which Rome has petitioned arguing that New Delhi does not have jurisdiction over the case because the firing occurred in international waters. But asked by the PCA about commitments from Italy acceptable to India, Neeru Chadha, India’s lead agent at the court, on March 31 said guarantees fixed by the tribunal – to ensure Rome fulfils its pledge to return Girone for a future trial – would do. “Mr President, India does not seek anything more onerous than the benchmark set by the Supreme Court of India, and some of these conditions were indicated by Italy’s counsel yesterday,” Chadha said, addressing the PCA tribunal’s president, judge Vladimir Golitsyn. “India needs to be assured that in case the tribunal finds that India has jurisdiction, the presence of Sergeant Girone would be ensured. Towards that end, India would deem it necessary that the tribunal itself fix these guarantees.” The testimony is part of detailed, 267-page transcripts of hearings the PCA tribunal held with Italian and Indian officials on March 30 and March 31, shared with both parties by the international court. The hearings were on a sub-petition filed by Italy seeking “provisional measures” – the release of Girone by India – pending the PCA’s determination on the jurisdiction of the case. The PCA has not yet passed its order on Italy’s request for “provisional measures”. The “conditions” Chadha referred to were detailed by Francesco Azzarello, Italy’s ambassador in the Netherlands, and by Daniel Bethlehem, a lawyer representing Rome at the PCA proceedings, on March 30, according to the transcripts. Azzarello gave a formal undertaking on behalf of Italy that the country would return Girone to India if the PCA tribunal ordered it to do so. Bethlehem also outlined the additional conditions Italy would accept from the PCA tribunal. “Such conditions might include that Sergeant Girone is required to surrender his travel documents to the Italian authorities, and that he does not travel outside Italy without express permission, and that he reports periodically to designated authorities in Italy throughout the period in question,” Bethlehem said. “Such conditions would operate alongside the undertaking already given in Italy’s name by the Italian agent in these proceedings.” Italy’s acceptance of these potential additional conditions, and India’s willingness to allow Girone to return home if the tribunal orders these conditions, point to the growing recognition in the two nations that their four-year dispute has hurt both. The two countries have engaged in quiet negotiations for months to try and draw up a roadmap to rebuild their bilateral relationship. Those negotiations involved contemplating diplomatic shifts to ease public sentiment in both countries, while allowing the legal case against the marines to proceed at the Supreme Court and at international tribunals. Several Italian firms – especially in the footwear sector – have indicated their interest in investing in India, but have been nudged by Rome to hold back because of the dispute surrounding the marines. Italy last year vetoed India’s application for membership to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), one of four export control regimes New Delhi is keen to join. And the tensions between India and Italy have cast a cloud on New Delhi’s ties with the European Union, its largest trade partner as a group. “The EU shares Italy’s concerns to find an expeditious solution for the prolonged restriction of liberty of the two marines,” the joint statement issued by the EU and India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Brussels last month said, before highlighting the difference in views. “India stressed the need for rendering due justice for the families of the Indian fishermen who were killed.” A Hamburg-based international tribunal mandated to settle maritime disputes had last year ordered both India and Italy to stall all legal proceedings in the case till the PCA, which enjoys greater powers, decides on the jurisdiction. Because India can’t even frame charges against the marines till the PCA decides on the case, Italy has argued there is little rationale for New Delhi to insist that Girone stay there. He currently lives at the residence of the Italian ambassador in New Delhi, can’t leave the city, and must report to the police every week. But both the Italian demand for Girone’s return, and India’s repeated objections, are also rooted in domestic politics. Italy’s failure to bring Girone back has forced the resignation of a minister. And the marines’ case remains a politically touchy subject in Kerala, which goes to the polls next month.