Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on
Friday urged Egypt to collaborate "seriously" on the Cairo
torture and murder of student Giulio Regeni so that relations
can return to normal after Italy recalled its ambassador after a
probe stalled.
"For us, a return to normality of relations depends on
serious collaboration" on the Regeni case, Gentiloni
said on RAI radio.
At the same time, while Italy remained dissatisfied with
the level of Egyptian cooperation, Gentiloni revealed that
contact with Cairo prosecutors has been restored.
"The Rome prosecutor's office has sent a new request (for
information) and I know that contacts between the prosecutors'
office are ongoing," he said on RAI radio.
Gentiloni voiced the hope that Rome Chief Prosecutor
Giuseppe Pignatone's "activity can revive some useful contacts".
But in the meantime, he stressed, Italy was "maintaining a
position of dissatisfaction".
Italy broke off judicial collaboration and recalled its
ambassador on April 8 after a summit in Rome failed.
Rome has repeatedly called for records of phone calls made
in the areas where Regeni disappeared and where his body was
found 10 days later.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge doctoral student
researching Egyptian trade unions, disappeared on January 25,
the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that
toppled former strongman Hosni Mubarak.
His beaten, burned, slashed, and mutilated body turned up
in a ditch on the city's outskirts on February 3.
Egypt has repeatedly dismissed speculation that its
security forces may have been involved in Regeni's death.
Italy has complained of a lack of cooperation from Cairo in
getting to the bottom of the case and recently recalled its
ambassador to Egypt for consultations after the investigation
into Regeni's death stalled, with Egypt proffering versions of
his death that stirred disbelief, included a car crash, a gay
lovers' quarrel, and a kidnapping for ransom gone wrong.
On Wednesday prosecutors in Cairo extended the detention of
Ahmed Abdallah, a consultant for the Regeni family, by 15 days.
The prosecutors had ordered an initial four-day detention
two days ago in a probe into alleged incitement to demonstrate
illegally against a border deal ceding two islands to Saudi
Arabia.
The family of Regeni, who are seeking the truth about his
brutal murder, have voiced concern over Abdallah's detention.
On Tuesday they said that they were "anxious" over the
arrest of Abdallah, president of the board of the Egyptian
Commission for Rights and Freedom (ECRF), an NGO that is
providing consultancy work for the Regeni's lawyers.
Amnesty International confirmed Abdallah was arrested
along with activist Sanaa Seif and lawyer Malek Adly.
Egyptian special forces took Abdallah from his home on the
night of April 24 and he stands accused of instigation to
violence in order to overthrow the government, adhering to a
terrorist group, and promotion of terrorism, Amnesty said.
In light of Amnesty's communique, the Regeni family
expressed "concern over the recent wave of arrests in Egypt (of)
human rights activists, lawyers and journalists, some of them
directly engaged in the search for the truth about the
abduction, torture and murder of Giulio", their statement said.
On Monday, which was a national holiday in Italy, Lower
House Speaker Laura Boldrini reiterated the call for truth and
justice for Regeni.
"We will never tire of calling for the truth. A democracy
does not compromise," she said during celebrations to mark
Italy's liberation from the Nazi occupation in World War II.
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