We want the truth on Regeni- Gentiloni

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - 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.