Egypt bans witnesses from coming to Regeni trial

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 19 - Egypt has banned four key prosecution witnesses from answering a summons to the Rome trial in absentia of four Egyptian intelligence officers charged with torturing to death Italian student Giulio Regeni in January-February 2016, judicial sources said Wednesday.
    The Farnesina, Italy's foreign ministry, has transmitted to the prosecutors in Rome a note from the Egyptian General Prosecutor's Office stating that it is "impossible to execute requests for judicial assistance" to have the four Egyptian witnesses heard in Wednesday's hearing.
    They include trade unionist Said Abdallah, who allegedly fingered Regeni as a spy; the coordinator of a centre for economic and social rights, Hoda Kamel Hussein; and Rabab Ai-Mahdi, Regeni's tutor in Cairo.
    In light of this, the Deputy Prosecutor, Sergio Colaiocco, asked the Assize Court to be able to acquire the testimonies of the absent witnesses gathered during the investigation.
    "We are in the presence of witnesses who have not freely chosen not to be here. We have tried everything to bring the witnesses here," said the prosecutor. (ANSA).