Italy will not be satisfied with
anything less than the truth about the slaying of Italian
doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Egypt, Foreign Minister Paolo
Gentiloni told LA Repubblica daily in an interview out Monday.
"We want those really responsible identified, and we want
them punished according to the law," he said.
"Italy has a duty to defend its citizens" in spite of the
fact that Egypt is "a strategic partner" in the Middle East
"with a key role in stabilizing the region", Gentiloni said.
Also on Monday, Italy's National Forensic Council (CNF)
issued a statement about Regeni, who disappeared in Cairo on
January 25 and who turned up dead last week.
His body was returned to Italy at the weekend for a fresh
autopsy on his tortured corpse.
"(His) death proves once again how much we need a constant
commitment to monitor and denounce episodes of human rights
violations," the CNF said.
"The use of torture cannot be tolerated, nor any compromise
in the name of reasons of State to justify it. The CNF calls on
everyone to contribute to the defense of freedom of thought and
respect for life," the statement said.
Seven Italian investigators have flown to Cairo to take
part in a joint probe aimed at reconstructing a case that has
appalled Italy and sent shock waves abroad.
Regeni, 28, was studying at the American University in
Cairo and freelancing for leftist Rome-based daily Il Manifesto
on issues such as the trade union movement.
After his death, the paper ran his last piece under his
name, detailing difficulties facing independent labor unions,
including the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services.
He went missing January 25, the closely controlled fifth
anniversary of the uprising against former strongman Hosni
Mubarak, and he was found dead in a ditch with signs of torture
on the evening of February 3.
A candlelight vigil was held in his northern home town of
Fiumicello at the weekend.
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