(ANSA) - ROME, APR 14 - Three new witnesses have accused four
Egyptian security apparatus members of torturing and murdering
Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo in January-February 2016, Rome prosecutors said Wednesday.
The fresh testimony has emerged in documents filed ahead of the
preliminary hearing in absentia on April 29 of National Security
General Tariq Sabir and his subordinates, Colonels Athar Kamel
Mohamed Ibrahim and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal
Sharif.
The hearing will weigh Rome prosecutors request to indict them
for Regeni s murder.
One of the witnesses has reportedly told the prosecutors that
the four staged a robbery gone wrong to try to cover up
The Cambridge University research student s brutalized body was
found a week later.
Rome prosecutors have requested that four members of Egypt s
security services face trial in relation to the case.
Among many difficulties, the work of the Rome prosecutors
department has led to the conclusion of investigations that have
identified a picture of grave responsibility that will soon be
subject to a trial for the consequent punishment for the guilty
parties, wrote Mattarella in a statement.
We expect a full and adequate response from the Egyptian
authorities, which have been relentlessly called on in this
regard by the Italian diplomatic services .
The murder
The President of the Republic: A very deep wound in the soul of all Italians
It was January 25, 2016, exactly five years ago, when Giulio Regeni sent his last text message from Egypt at 7.41pm. Nothing more would be known of him until February 3, when the tortured body was found on a road between Cairo and Alexandria. Five years after that message, the truth about the assassination of the Friulian researcher is still far away, despite the work of the judiciary and the commitment of the Italian government.
THE CASE IN EUROPE - Today the case will be discussed in the EU Foreign Council, and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio will speak about it via videoconference. European ministers could decide to take other steps.