Egypt prosecutor to fly to Rome on Regeni case

Egyptian Prosecutor-General Nabil Ahmed Sadek and a delegation of investigators will travel to Rome “in the next few hours” to meet Rome Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone on the case of Giulio Regeni, the Italian research student who was tortured and murdered in Cairo, Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar said.

“Sadek will present new information found in the inquiry to get to the truth about the researcher’s death,” it said.

Last month Italian officials said Egyptian and Italian prosecutors investigating Regeni’s death would meet in Rome on September 8 and 9.

The meeting is being held on request of the Rome prosecutor’s office, which is conducting the Italian side of the investigation.

Prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone and Egyptian Prosecutor General Sadek will attend what will be the third such meeting since the beaten, stabbed, burned, mutilated and partially unclothed body of Regeni, 28, was found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo on February 3, a week after his disappearance on the night of January 25.

An autopsy subsequently revealed he had been tortured for days, and that someone ultimately killed him by snapping his neck.

Egypt has offered up a number of explanations for the young man’s condition and his death – including a gay lovers’ quarrel, a car crash, and a kidnapping for ransom gone wrong – none of which Italy has found convincing.

The first meeting between prosecutors and investigators from both countries took place March 14 in the Egyptian capital, and the second took place April 7 in Rome.

Italy broke off judicial cooperation after Egypt failed to provide meaningful information and called its ambassador to Cairo back to Rome.

Since then a new ambassador has been named, Giampaolo Cantini, but is still being kept in Rome.

Source: Asna