The Supreme Court on Thursday relaxed the bail conditions of Italian marine Salvatore Girone and granted him permission to return home. Girone will remain in Italy till an International Arbitral Tribunal decides the jurisdictional issue between India and Italy, PTI reported. The apex court bench, however, said Girone must surrender his passport to the Italian authorities once he is in Italy. The court has also directed him to report to his nearest police station every month. The report, in turn, will be handed over to the Indian Embassy.

The order comes after a United Nations arbitration court in April ruled that India should release him. Girone and another Italian sailor Massimiliano Latorre were arrested in India on charges of killing two Kerala fishermen in 2012. Latore returned to Italy on medical grounds in 2015.

Italy had moved the Supreme Court earlier this week seeking permission for Girone to return home. Italian counsel had told the apex court that they would keep the bench informed about Girone’s movements every three months, and that he would be sent back to India if the international tribunal ruled that the sailors had to be tried in India.

In 2015, the Supreme Court had suspended legal proceedings against the two marines after orders passed by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.