Even though the Italian team tried to have a meeting with the wife and two sons of Jelastine with the help of a Catholic priest, the family turned down the request.
The family of Jelastine, one of the two fishermen allegedly killed by Italian marines, today refused to meet visiting Deputy Foreign Minister Steffan de Mistura fearing it would harm their case.
Though the Italian team tried to have a meeting with wife and two sons of Jelastine with the help of a Catholic priest, the family turned down the request.
Police also objected to the move on security grounds.
Sources close to the family said they feared that meeting the Italians without the knowledge of the government or investigators would harm their case leading to denial of justice.
Jelastine and Ajesh Binki, the two fishermen, were allegedly shot dead by the two Italian marine guards off the Kollam coast on February 15 suspecting them to be pirates.
Mistura said his country expects the trial of the accused Italian marines to be fair as the judiciary was independent in India.
"What I could learn from here is that judiciary is independent, fair and transparent in India. So, we expect the trial in the case to be fair with judges hearing both sides," Mistura told reporters here.
"We are only doing what Indians would have done in a similar situation," he said.
Mistura said the sympathy of Italy was with the bereaved families of the two fishermen.
He said the purpose of his visit to Kollam was to convey condolences to the family of Jelastine and it was unfortunate that he could not meet them.
Mistura and his team arrived here last evening and met two Italian marines charged with murder in the shooting case and detained in police custody.
A Kollam court had earlier rejected Italy's plea to allow their forensic experts to be present during the examination of the weapons seized from the Italian cargo ship which was allegedly used in the killing of the two fishermen.
The court had, however, allowed Italian representatives to be present during unsealing of the boxes containing the arms and test firing of the guns by ballistic experts.
The arms were seized from the merchant ship 'Enrica Lexie' by the Special Investigating Team probing the case, headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar in the presence of Italian officials.
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has ruled out the possibility of any out of court settlement in the case which has led to a diplomatic face off between India and Italy.
Chandy made it clear that the case against the two Naval guards will proceed as per Indian law.
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