http://www.theguardian.

com/world/2016/apr/08/italy-recalls-ambassador-egypttalks-death-student-giulio-regeni

Italy recalls ambassador from Egypt for talks about death of student
Italian foreign minister made decision as meetings between countries over torture and
death of Giulio Regeni continue
Italy has recalled its ambassador to Cairo in protest at the lack of progress in the
investigation by Egyptian authorities into the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni, an
Italian student whose high-profile case has raised diplomatic tensions between the two
countries. The Italian foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, ordered Maurizio Massari to
return to Italy, following two days of talks in Rome between Egyptian investigators and
their Italian counterparts.
Urgent decisions are needed on the most proper actions, said a statement issued by
the ministry on Friday. Massari will return to Rome for consultation and to discuss the
way forward to ascertain the truth about the barbaric murder of Giulio Regeni, the
statement said.
The news was also published on Twitter by Italys prime minister, Matteo Renzi,
accompanied by the hashtag truth for Giulio Regeni
Regenis body was found on a Cairo roadside on 3 February. A PhD researcher at the
University of Cambridge, Regeni, 28, was working on labour unions when he
disappeared on the 25 January anniversary of the Egyptian uprising. Egyptian officials
initially said he may have been killed in a traffic accident but autopsies carried out in
Cairo and Rome showed Regeni had suffered extensive and prolonged torture before his
death.
Authorities in Cairo later suggested that Regeni had been killed by a criminal gang,
which had hoped to force him to empty his bank account. But outside observers said the
murder bears the hallmarks of a state-sponsored killing.

Amid growing anger over the speed and direction of the Egyptian investigation, a team
led by Cairos deputy prosecutor, Mostafa Soliman, travelled to Rome to present a
2,000-page dossier of their findings with Italian officials. The recall was widely seen in
Italy as a sign that the meetings had failed to satisfy Italian authorities.
The case has provoked indignation in Italy, where Regenis mother addressed
parliament, and leading politicians have called for the truth about his death to be told.
http://www.gulf-times.com/story/487848/Italy-recalls-ambassador-from-Egypt

Italy recalls ambassador from Egypt

April 08 2016 11:00 PM

Italy yesterday recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations in protest over
the lack of progress in a probe into the fate of murdered Cambridge student Giulio
Regeni.
The move came after two days of talks between Egyptian and Italian investigators
in Rome ended without a resolution of tensions between the two countries over the
fate of 28-year-old Regeni, whose tortured and mutilated body was discovered
outside Cairo on February 3.
Italy has undertaken a commitment with the Regeni family... that we would stop
only once we get the truth, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.
Egypts foreign ministry released a statement saying it had not been officially
notified about the recall, adding that it awaits the return of the investigative team
to hear its evaluation of the meetings.
It would then assess the situation and there will be the necessary communications
at the appropriate level, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid was quoted
as saying.
A statement by the Rome prosecutor in charge of the case said that the Egyptians
had handed over phone records of two of Regenis Italian friends who were in Cairo
at the time of his disappearance, as well as photos taken on the day his body was
discovered.
The statement made no mention of CCTV footage of the neighbourhood from which
Regeni disappeared on January 25, which the Italians had asked to see, or whether
Regeni was under surveillance prior to his abduction.
The Egyptian team indicated that they were still considering the possibility Regeni
was abducted by an anti-foreigner criminal gang whose members all died in a police
shootout last month.

The Italian prosecutor stressed his conviction that there are no elements to directly
link the gang to the torture and death of Giulio Regeni, the statement said.
Egypts presentation of a theory that a criminal gang carried out the murder has
been greeted with outraged scepticism in Italy and has helped fuel public anger
over the case, putting intense pressure on Renzi to be seen to be getting tough with
Cairo.
Italian officials suspect the student was killed by rogue elements in the Egyptian
security services. Their Egyptian counterparts have so far maintained there is no
basis for such claims.
With the case threatening to derail relations between two countries with major
economic and strategic ties, the Egyptian team of two prosecutors and three senior
police figures had flown to Rome in a bid to reassure their Italian counterparts that
everything was being down to bring Regenis killers to justice.
Italy had warned last week of diplomatic retaliation if the perceived foot-dragging of
the Egyptians continued.