Italy distances Egypt from verdict over Giulio Regeni as opposition attacks

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Italy signalled on Tuesday it wanted to avoid a diplomatic rupture with Egypt after three Egyptian security officials were found guilty in absentia of the 2016 kidnapping of student Giulio Regeni, who was killed after his abduction.

“There has been a conviction. Egypt has not been convicted, three people have been convicted,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, appearing keen to separate the verdict from Italy’s broader relationship with Egypt.

Regeni, a 28-year-old postgraduate student at Britain’s Cambridge University, vanished in the Egyptian capital on January25, 2016. His body was found almost a week later, with a post-mortem showing he had been extensively tortured.

Capping a decade-long quest for justice by Regeni’s family, a Rome court on Monday found three senior Egyptian officials guilty of his abduction while acquitting a fourth defendant and dropping a murder charge against one of the group.

POLITICALLY SENSITIVE

Egypt refused to cooperate with the trial and did not reveal the whereabouts of the accused men, who have never responded to the charges. Egypt itself has denied any state involvement in Regeni’s death and has not commented on the court ruling.

Italian prosecutors said Regeni had fallen foul of the state because his research involved the politically sensitive subject of independent trade unions. Egypt initially said he died in a road accident and later blamed a criminal gang for the killing.

Elly Schlein, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said Monday’s ruling established responsibility at the highest levels of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.

“From today nobody will be able to deny the responsibility of al-Sisi’s regime,” she wrote on Instagram, calling the judgment “historic” and accusing Egyptian authorities of trying “in every possible way” to obstruct the proceedings.

Alessandra Ballerini, the Regeni family lawyer, urged the government to sever relations with Cairo.

MENDING DIPLOMATIC TIES

However, since taking power in 2022, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has sought to rebuild relations with al-Sisi after years of tensions over the Regeni case. Egypt is now a key partner for Italy on migration, energy security and efforts to stabilise North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.

The desire to improve bilateral ties was clear earlier this month, when Tajani travelled to Cairo to sign deals aimed at broadening cooperation, including a pact to strengthen joint efforts against people traffickers and irregular migration.

Angelo Bonelli, a leader of the opposition Greens and Left Alliance, said Tajani was trying to downplay the significance of Monday’s ruling. He accused the government of placing commercial and energy interests ahead of justice for Regeni.

“For this government, business dealings with Egypt and oil come before international law and justice,” Bonelli said.

Under Italian law, both the prosecution and the defence have the right to two levels of appeal before a ruling becomes definitive. Any extradition request would likely come only after the judicial process is exhausted, which might take years.

“We’ll see what happens on appeal and in the subsequent stages of the judicial process,” Tajani said.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Additional reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Timothy Heritage)