Egyptian security officials accused of torturing and killing student go on trial in absentia
Egyptian security officials accused of torturing and killing Cambridge student ‘mistaken for foreign spy’ go on trial in absentia in Italy
Four Egyptian security officers to go on trial in absentia in Italy over killing of student Giulio RegeniThey are accused of kidnapping, conspiracy to murder and grievous bodily harmEgypt has so far refused to hand over contact details for the security officers Regeni’s tortured body was found on a roadside in Cairo in 2016He suffered many broken bones and had letters carved into his skinThe PhD student had been researching Egyptian trade unions for his doctorateEgypt has denied he was killed by officials but Italian magistrates want a trial
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Four Egyptian security officers will go on trial in absentia in Italy today for the brutal killing in Cairo five years ago of student Giulio Regeni.
The officers stand accused of kidnapping, conspiracy to murder and grievous bodily harm in the case, which sparked outrage in Italy and has strained diplomatic relations with Egypt.
Regeni, 28, an Italian student who was doing research for a doctorate at Cambridge University, was abducted in January 2016. His body, bearing extensive signs of torture, was eventually found dumped on the outskirts of Cairo.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio welcomed the first hearing in Rome as ‘a result unhoped for in the weeks following the discovery of Giulio’s body’, when the case looked unsolvable.
Four Egyptian security officers will go on trial in absentia in Italy today for the brutal killing in Cairo five years ago of student Giulio Regeni (pictured)
But the trial may collapse before it has begun.
The court will have to rule on whether the four suspects are aware of the judicial proceedings against them, as required by law. Egypt has refused to provide their contact details.
At a preliminary hearing in May, a judge ruled that media coverage meant news of the investigation into the four would have reached them. That decision may be upheld or overturned by the court on Thursday.
The four are named in court documents as General Tariq Sabir, Colonels Athar Kamel and Uhsam Helmi and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif, who is accused of carrying out the killing.
Regeni’s corpse was found nine days after he disappeared and his mother, Paola Deffendi (pictured), later said it had been so badly mutilated she only recognised her son by the ‘tip of his nose’
Investigators believe Regeni was abducted and killed after being mistaken for a foreign spy.
Prosecutor Michele Prestipino told a parliamentary committee in December that there were ‘elements of significant proof’ implicating Egyptian officers in the murder – an accusation rejected by Egypt.
He had left his apartment with a plan to travel by subway to meet a friend in the city, but was never seen again.
His team allege Sharif got informants to follow Regeni, had him arrested and caused him ‘acute physical suffering’. Regeni’s teeth were broken and his hands and feet fractured. He died of suffocation.
Pictured: A candlelight vigil was held for Regeni across Italy on January 25, 2020, at 7.41pm – the time that he left home for the last time before his death
Letters had also been carved into his skin which is allegedly a calling card for Egypt’s security services.
Regeni’s legal team have requested all Italian prime ministers and foreign ministers since 2016 be called as witnesses, along with the country’s secret service chiefs, according to media reports.
But court-appointed defence lawyer Tranquillino Sarno told AFP the trial would ‘stand or fall’ on whether key eyewitnesses central to the prosecutor’s case made it to Rome to testify in person.
Regeni’s corpse was found nine days after he disappeared and his mother later said it had been so badly mutilated she only recognised her son by the ‘tip of his nose’.
As part of his work for a doctorate, Regeni had been researching Egyptian trade unions, a particularly sensitive political issue.
Regeni’s death triggered fresh criticism of Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Pictured: Protestors rally in front of the Egyptian embassy in London on February 2, 2018
Egypt has previously denied claims he was tortured in order to reveal contacts with opposition figures.
They said he was killed by a criminal gang who were shot and killed by police in Egypt, but this was previously ridiculed by Italian investigators.
Police also initially suggested Mr Regeni had been killed in a road accident.
His death triggered fresh criticism of Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Claudio Francavilla from Human Rights Watch told journalists in Rome on Wednesday that the trial was being closely watched as ‘a symbol of hope for Egyptians’.
Pictured: Pall bearers carry Regeni’s coffin during his funeral service on February 12, 2016
