The justice ministry said Monday that
it has had no response from Egypt over its calls for cooperation
in the case of four Egyptian intelligence officers suspected of
the the abduction, torture and murder of Italian student Giulio
Regeni in Cairo in early 2016.
The trial against the four has been suspended after a Rome
court ruled that it could not go ahead because the defendants
had not been notified of its existence.
Italy has been trying to notify the four officers of their
indictments in order to proceed with their trial in absentia but
the efforts ran into a brick wall last year after Cairo refused
to help locate them.
"Up to now we have not had any response from the Egyptian
authorities in relation to the four defendants," a justice
ministry official told a hearing before a preliminary hearings
judge.
"Neither did the Egyptians respond to a request for a meeting
that (Justice)Minister Marta Cartabia asked for in January".
The judge suspended proceedings and scheduled a new hearing for
February 13.
"If there were any need, it has been shown once again and with
further clarity that the Egyptian authorities do not have, and
have never had, any intention to cooperate," said Regeni's
parents in a statement.
"Today it emerged that Justice Minister Cartabia's request in
January for a meeting with her Egyptian counterpart got no
response and this rejection is unprecedented.
"We hope for an fitting reaction of dignity from our
government".
The four Egyptian officials are National Security General Tariq
Sabir and his subordinates, Colonels Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim
and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif
Regeni, a 28-year-old Friuli-born Cambridge University doctoral
researcher, was tortured to death while in Egypt to work on
research into Cairo street hawkers' unions.
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