NEW DELHI: Facing murder charges, two Italian marines had their request for plea charges to be translated into Italian rejected by a court in India's southern Kerala state on Tuesday. The marines are being charged with shooting to death two Indian fishermen from the cargo ship Enrica Lexie. According to Press Trust of India the District and Sessions Judge P D Rajan, who is hearing the case, turned down the marines' plea holding that there was no provision in the Indian Criminal Procedure Code to provide translate versions of the charge sheet and documents. The judge observed that the lawyers appearing for marines were well versed in regional language Malayalam and English. The case had sparked a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Rome over the two Italian citizens, but Italy backed off and has allowed the trial to take place. It is unclear what exactly occurred in the shooting incident and the Italian marines claim they were acting in self-defense.