Egypt: Italy hopes for breakthrough over murder of student Giulio Regeni

Italy is hoping for a breakthrough in investigations into the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni before the end of the year.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who met Sisi on Wednesday, said judicial officials from Italy and Egypt, who have been investigating the Regeni case jointly, were due to meet “soon”.

“I hope that by the end of the year we will achieve a breakthrough and that the meeting between the judicial authorities can take place as soon as possible. Obviously, we don’t run them, because they are the judges. But on our side and the Egyptian side, there is a desire to ask for acceleration’‘, Di Maio said.

Regeni disappeared on January 25, 2016 while undertaking a postgraduate research on Egyptian trade unions. His body was discovered 9 days later and Egyptian investigators found signs of extensive torture.

Intelligence and security sources told Reuters in 2016 that police had arrested Regeni outside a Cairo metro station on January 25 of that year and then transferred him to a compound run by Homeland Security.

Egyptian officials have denied any involvement and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said last month that Egypt was determined to conclude a joint investigation and bring Regeni’s killers to justice.

Reuters