India's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Italian marine can stay in Italy while arbitration continues over the 2012 shooting deaths of two Indian fishermen in which he and another marine were implicated.

The court approved Massimiliano Latorre's request to stay in his homeland while an arbitration court in The Hague, Netherlands, decides which country has jurisdiction in the matter.

In Rome, the Italian foreign ministry expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court ruling.

India has accused Latorre and fellow marine Salvatore Girone of killing the two fishermen in Indian waters while they were assigned to anti-piracy duties aboard an Italian commercial ship. Italy says the marines thought the fishermen were pirates and that the shooting took place in international waters.

Latorre has been in Italy since 2014 for medical treatment after suffering a stroke in India. Girone was allowed to return to Italy in May.

The case against the two marines has strained relations between Rome and New Delhi, with both disagreeing on the facts of the case and on which country has jurisdiction. Italy has also complained that in four years India has never formally charged the two with a crime.