ROME – Italy’s president said yesterday that he is expecting a response from Egypt and solidarity from the European Union over the unsolved 2016 murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, Anadolu Agency reported.
President Sergio Mattarella said in his message on the fifth anniversary of Regeni’s disappearance that a picture of who was responsible for the crime had emerged after an investigation by Italian prosecutors.
“We expect a full and sufficient response from the Egyptian authorities, as our diplomacy has relentlessly urged.”
Pointing out the importance of the EU’s interest in the case, Mattarella said he hopes to see the union’s commitment to a convergent solidarity “in order to reach the truth and bring those involved in this crime to justice”.
Italian prosecutors requested last Wednesday that four Egyptian officials be tried for the murder in Egypt.
Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral student who was studying in Egypt, vanished on January 25, 2016, the fifth anniversary of a popular uprising that forced then-president Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power. Nine days later, his body was found on a highway.
Egyptian authorities deny any involvement in Regeni’s death. – Bernama, January 26, 2021
