Premier Paolo Gentiloni on
Wednesday spoke to the parents of Giulio Regeni on the
anniversary of their son's disappearance in Cairo, sources said.
The premier reaffirmed to Paola and Claudio Regeni the
closeness of the Italian government and voiced confidence in the
work Italian magistrates are doing, voicing hope for further
steps forward in establishing the truth about the researchers's
abduction, torture and murder.
Regeni, 28, went missing on the heavily police fifth
anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni
Mubraka and his mutilated body turned up in a ditch on the road
to Alexandria on February 3.
Egypt has denied the involvement of its security forces,
which are frequently accused of violently repressing dissent.
Regeni was doing research for his Cambridge doctoral thesis into
Egyptian trade unions, a contentious issue in the country.
A video surfaced earlier this week in which the head of the
Cairo street traders' union, Mohammed Abdallah, secretly filmed
Regeni asking him questions about the union using a police
shirt-button microcamera.
Abdallah said he was doing his patriotic duty because Regeni,
he said, was a spy.
Egypt has furnished several explanations for Regeni's death
ranging from a car accident to a gay fight to a kidnapping, all
of which have been dismissed by Italy.
Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday said suspicion
has fallen on seven members of the Egyptian police and
intelligence services who used Abdallah as an informant and who
later were responsible for wiping out the alleged kidnapping
gang.
Regeni's personal documents were allegedly found in the
house of the sister of one of the alleged gang's members.
Italy recalled its Cairo ambassador to protest the lack of
progress in the Regeni probe and has yet to send his successor
in to take up his post.
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