Dozens of PhD students from Cambridge University's Italy branch staged a protest Thursday at the Egyptian Embassy in Rome to demand the truth behind the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
Italian Foreign Minister Paulo Gentiloni said in front of parliament Thursday evening that cooperation with a team of Italian investigators into the killing of Regeni needs to be more effective and cannot be only on the official level.
The Italian minister added, in response to a statement by the Egyptian Interior Ministry, that Italian investigators still need clear evidence regarding Regeni's murder.
The Interior Ministry stated on Wednesday that its investigation into the death of Regeni in Cairo pointed to several possibilities, including that he was killed as an act of revenge or for criminal motives.
The statement, which was published by MENA news agency, did not mention the possibility of Regeni having been tortured and murdered by Egyptian security forces, as suggested by various news outlets and rights activists.
"The investigation leads to several possibilities, including criminal activity or the desire for revenge due to personal reasons especially as the Italian had many relationships with people near where he lives and where he studied," the ministry said in a statement to MENA.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian studying for his PhD at Cambridge University, went missing in Cairo on January 25, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. He was in Cairo to conduct research on Egypt's labor movement.
Ten days later, Regeni's body was found by the side of the Cairo-Alexandria desert road, allegedly showing signs of torture.
