Di Maio writes to Cairo demanding truth on Regeni murder

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 18 - Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has written to his Egyptian counterpart demanding the truth about the torture and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Egypt in 2016.
    The minister said it was crucial for bilateral relations that the people behind Regeni's killing are brought to justice.
    He also expressed hope that a meeting between Italian and Egyptian prosecutors working on the case on July 1 can open "important space for a political initiative by the governments".
    Cambridge doctoral researcher Regeni, 28, was found dead on February 3 2016 a week after disappearing on the Cairo metro.
    He had been tortured so badly that his mother said she only recognised him by the tip of his nose.
    Rome prosecutors placed five members of Egypt's security apparatus under investigation for the murder, sparking Cairo to stop significant cooperation in the probe into the Friuli-born researcher's death.
    At various times Egypt has advanced various explanations for his death including a car accident, a gay lovers' tiff and abduction and murder by an alleged kidnapping gang that was wiped out after Regeni's documents were planted in their lair.
    Regeni was researching Cairo street sellers unions for the British university, a politically sensitive subject. The head of the street hawkers union had fingered Regeni as a spy.
    Later on Thursday Premier Giuseppe Conte will speak to the parliamentary commission of inquiry into Regeni's death.
    The commission requested Conte attend a hearing after the government approved the sale of two Italian frigates to Egypt.
    (ANSA).