There can be no domestic, European or
international immunity for torture, Italy's Constitutional Court
said Thursday in explaining its recent decision to free up the
trial in absentia in Rome of four Egyptian security officers for
torturing to death Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo in
early 2016.
The top court came out against any immunity stemming from the
impossibility of personally notifying the defendants of the
start of proceedings against them because of a lack of
cooperation from Egypt.
"It is not acceptable, under domestic, European and
international constitutional law, the indefinite paralysis of
the trial for crimes of torture committed by public agents, as
would result from the impossibility of personally notifying the
defendant of the acts of initiation of the trial due to the lack
of cooperation of the State of his nationality," the explanation
of the sentence said.
On September 27 the Constitutional Court ended a stalemate on
the trial, ruling that the trial could proceed even though the
officers have not been informed of the proceedings against them,
as Cairo has refused to cooperate on the case.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Friuli born Cambridge University doctoral
researcher into Cairo street seller unions, was tortured to
death in Egypt between January 25 and February 3 2016.
His work on Egyptian trade unions was politically sensitive and
his body was so badly mutilated his mother only recognised him
by the tip of his nose.
A Rome judge had asked the Constitutional Court to rule on
whether the trial can proceed without the presence of the four
Egyptian security agents who have been charged in Italy with his
murder and without any proof that they know they are on trial.
Despite multiple verbal pledges from Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian authorities have not cooperated
with Italian efforts to formally notify the suspects that they
are on trial, which had prevented proceedings moving forward.
Efforts to notify the four officers - National Security General
Tariq Sabir and his subordinates, Colonels Athar Kamel Mohamed
Ibrahim and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif
- have been unsuccessful since Egypt has not cooperated by
handing over their contact details and legal abodes.
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