Rome prosecutors said Wednesday that
Egypt's chief prosecutor was mulling a response to their
requests to quiz five intelligence service officers over the
2016 torture and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
Rome prosecutors had a videoconference on the case on Wednesday.
Last month Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di
Maio wrote to his Egyptian counterpart reiterating Italy's
demand for the truth about Regeni's death.
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.
Rome recently drew condemnation from Regeni's parents by
announcing the sale of two frigates to Egypt.
Premier Giuseppe Conte subsequently said that while the deal had
been technically approved, it had yet to get final political
approval.
Di Maio also said the deal was on hold.
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