Family of murdered Italian student in Cairo still seeking justice
ROME: A second trial of four Egyptian security officers accused of kidnapping and brutally murdering an Italian student in 2016 opened in Rome Tuesday with his parents vowing to uncover the truth. Giulio Regeni, 28, had been conducting academic research when he was abducted in January 2016. His body was found nine days later, dumped on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, bearing extensive signs of torture.
The murder severely strained ties between Italy and Egypt, while Italian MPs later accused Cairo of being “openly hostile” to attempts to try the suspects. In 2021, Italian judges threw out the first trial the day it opened because prosecutors had not been able to officially inform the four suspects of the procedures against them.
But the Constitutional Court ruled in September that the case could go ahead in their absence. On the new trial’s opening day Tuesday, Regeni’s parents, Claudio and Paola, and his sister Irene unfurled a large yellow banner bearing the words “Truth for Giulio Regeni”, before entering the court.
After a hearing that lasted one-and-a-half hours, the family’s lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini, said her clients looked forward to “finally (having) a trial against those who did all the evil in the world to Giulio.” “We have been waiting eight years for this moment,” Ballerini told journalists outside the courtroom.
None of the four defendants — General Tariq Sabir, Colonels Athar Kamel and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif — were present in court.
All face charges of kidnapping, while Sharif is also charged with inflicting the fatal injuries on Regeni. Defense lawyers asked that the case be thrown out, arguing that the charges indiscriminately targeted the group without attributing specific acts to each individual. The court said it would rule on their legal objections at the next hearing March 18. — AFP