Italian deputy chief prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco arrived at Cairo International Airport in a private jet on Tuesday, heading a delegation from Rome to hold talks on developments in investigations in the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
Colaiocco is scheduled to meet Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek in Cairo to discuss the progress in the joint investigations.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD candidate, disappeared on January 25, 2016 in central Cairo as police came out in full force in anticipation of protests. His body, bearing signs of torture, was later found along the side of the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road.
Regeni had been researching street vendor trade unions, a sensitive political issue in Egypt, where successive governments have feared strikes and unrest. Egypt has forcefully denied that its police were involved in his abduction.
Police officials at first suggested Regeni might have died in a road accident. They have issued scant information about their investigation. An Italian autopsy showed that Regeni’s body was covered with cuts and his bones were broken, indicating he had been hit with “fists, batons and hammers”.
A letter “X” was carved on his forehead and hand, according to the report cited by Italian media. Egypt-Italy relations have deteriorated since Regeni’s murder.
Italy withdrew its ambassador to Egypt over the slow process and stilted investigations into Regeni’s brutal murder, which experts and officials widely believe was the work of state actors – despite staunch denials by Egypt’s government.
Egypt has pledged to bring Regeni’s killers to justice, and Egyptian and Italian investigators have held regular meetings in Rome.
Italian officials have stated that they have received all the requested evidence – such as phone records – but more than a year after, Regeni’s murder remains unsolved.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
