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.
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