Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni
told the Senate on the Cairo murder of Italian student Giulio
Regeni Tuesday that "unless there is a change of pace (by
Egypt), the government is ready to react by adopting immediate
and proportional measures".
Gentiloni said that "for reasons of State we will not let
Italy's dignity be trampled on".
Gentiloni said that "the dossier sent to Italy at the
beginning of March by the Egyptian investigators was lacking, it
lacked at least two of the five chapters requested by Italian
prosecutors: the data on Regeni's phone traffic and those on the
Cairo metro video".
Gentiloni said that "important" Rome meetings with an
Egyptian delegation Thursday and Friday "could be decisive for
the development of the investigations".
He said "Regeni's murder shook our consciences and the
whole country because the life of an exemplary Italian was cut
short, because of the way in which he was atrociously tortured
and killed, and for the lesson in composure of his parents".
Gentiloni said that "we will only stop when we find the
truth, the real one and not a convenient one".
He said Italy would not lend credit to "distorted" truths
and wanted to get the missing information.
A 2,000-page dossier has been prepared in view of this
week's visit by a delegation of Egyptian investigators to Rome
to share information on Regeni's murder, daily newspaper 'Al
Shourouk reported Monday, citing security sources.
Regeni, 28, went missing in Cairo on January 25, the
heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted
former strongman Hosni Mubarak, and his mutilated body was found
on February 3 in a ditch on the city's outskirts.
Egypt has denied speculation its security forces, who are
frequently accused of brutally repressing opposition, were
involved in the death of the Cambridge doctoral student.
Italian and Egyptian investigators will meet in Rome to
discuss the case of the murder of Italian researcher Giulio
Regeni on April 7 and 8, the interior ministry's department of
public security said on Monday.
Two magistrates and three police officials will take part
for the Egyptian delegation.
The meetings had been expected to take place two days
earlier, on Tuesday.
Rome has complained of a lack of cooperation over the case
after a series of possible Egyptian versions of how Regeni might
have died met incredulity in Italy.
Egyptian media reported last week that Egyptian authorities
are set to admit at the keenly awaited Rome meeting that they
kept tabs on Regeni before he was tortured and murdered.
At that 'summit', Rome prosecutors have said they will ask
for the phone and cellphone records of Regeni's friends and
acquaintances to help reconstruct his last days.
An "exhaustive dossier" that an "Egyptian security
delegation" will hand over to Rome prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone
will contain the results of investigations by security forces
into meetings which Regeni - who was working as a visiting
scholar at the American University in Cairo - had with street
traders and trade unionists in the Egyptian capital, Egyptian
daily Al-Akhbar reported on Friday.
The most recent Egyptian version of Regeni's death - which
however was reportedly disowned by the interior ministry over
the weekend - was that he was murdered by a gang specialising in
kidnapping foreigners who, in turn, were killed by the security
forces.
Al-Akhbar said the Egyptians' dossier will include
evidence from Regeni's friends and "many documents and important
information" including photos and "all the investigations on
Regeni from his arrival in Cairo to his disappearance".
Regeni's mother said last week she had seen "the world's
evil" on her son's battered face.
"At the mortuary I only recognized Giulio by the tip of his
nose," Paola Deffendi told a press conference at the Senate in
Rome.
"What they did to him is unspeakable".
"In Italy we have not seen torture since (the time of)
anti-Fascism, but Giulio was not at war - he went to do
research," Deffendi added.
She continued by saying the family trusts in a firm
response from the government should Egyptian investigators
fail to come up with convincing answers at the meetings with
their Italian colleagues in Rome.
"If (the meetings) turn out to be empty we trust in a
strong response from our government - a very, very strong one,"
she said. "We have been waiting for answers about Giulio since
January 25".
The Italian media has speculated the government might
recall its ambassador from Cairo or even go as far as imposing
economic sanctions if Egypt keeps up the alleged stonewalling on
the case.
Egyptian government critics and human rights organisations
have suggested the Friuli-born student was tortured and killed
by a security-forces cell because of his research work with the
trade union movement and the opposition, like many others.
Regeni's body had signs of torture all over it, including
cigarette burns, multiple fractures, cuts under the soles of the
feet, clipped ears, a torn fingernail and a torn toenail.
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