Trust in steps forward on Regeni (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, January 25 - 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.