Egyptian security officials accused of torturing and killing student go on trial in absentia
Trial of fugitive Egyptian security officials accused of torturing and killing Cambridge student ‘mistaken for foreign spy’ is HALTED on Day 1 by judge in Rome
Four security officers were due to go on trial over killing of student Giulio RegeniThey are accused of kidnapping, conspiracy to murder and grievous bodily harmEgypt has so far refused to hand over contact details for the security officers Regeni’s tortured body was found on a roadside in Cairo in 2016He suffered many broken bones and had letters carved into his skinThe PhD student had been researching Egyptian trade unions for his doctorateEgypt has denied he was killed by officials but Italian magistrates want a trial
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The trial of four fugitive Egyptian security officials accused of torturing and killing a Cambridge student who was allegedly mistaken for a foreign spy has been halted on its first day by a judge in Rome.
Judge Antonella Capri said on Thursday there was no certainty they had been formally made aware that they were charged in the abduction, torture and killing of Giulio Regeni, an Italian doctoral student in Cairo.
Citing the need to guarantee a fair trial, she nullified the decision to put the four on trial in their absence, and ordered papers be returned to prosecutors, who must try again to locate the suspects.
Her decision was a blow to prosecutors who have been trying to bring Regeni’s killers to justice for five years.
The 28-year-old was abducted in January 2016 as he was doing research for a doctorate at Cambridge University.
His body, bearing extensive signs of torture, was eventually found dumped on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital.
Investigators believe Regeni was abducted and killed after being mistaken for a foreign spy.
Four Egyptian security officers will go on trial in absentia in Italy today for the brutal killing in Cairo five years ago of student Giulio Regeni (pictured)
Defence lawyers had called for the trial to be suspended, saying their clients had never been formally notified of the charges because they never provided addresses, and were therefore technically ‘untraceable.’
Four empty chairs were left for them in the courtroom in Rome’s Rebibbia bunker tribunal Thursday.
Capri concurred, saying the law and the rights of the defense require her to be ‘certain’ that the defendants know the charges and the date of the trial, and that it is not enough to ‘presume’ that they do.
Prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco had argued that the four knew very well the trial was beginning and yet failed to show up.
Prosecutors for years have denounced the obstructionism of Egypt in refusing to cooperate with the investigation, and Colaiocco accused the four of purposefully ‘avoiding this trial and hoping that the trial would therefore get stuck and it would not go ahead.’
Regeni’s mother has said his body was so mutilated by torture that she was only able to recognize the tip of his nose when she viewed it.
Human rights activists have said the marks on his body resembled those resulting from widespread torture in Egyptian facilities.
In December, Italian prosecutors formally put the four Egyptians under investigation, and a judge ordered them to stand trial in May. It has always been expected that they would be tried in absentia.
But defense attorney Annalisa Ticconi argued the accused never gave a known address to authorities and the Italian state doesn’t know where they are.
‘In Italy there can be a trial only for traceable people, the trial for an untraceable person must be suspended,’ she told reporters outside the courthouse.
‘Year by year there will be checks to see if the person can be found and the trial could restart, but in the meantime, the trial and the evidence is frozen,’ she said.
Regeni’s parents and sister were in the courtroom for the hearing but made no comment. Their lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini, noted Capri’s decision ‘with bitterness.’
Regeni’s corpse was found nine days after he disappeared and his mother, Paola Deffendi (pictured), later said it had been so badly mutilated she only recognised her son by the ‘tip of his nose’
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom late Thursday, she said Egypt’s ‘obstructionism and arrogance’ had been rewarded, but vowed that the family’s quest for justice would not stop and had only been set back a few months.
She urged continued publicity about the case, especially the names of the defendants, ‘so they cannot say they didn’t know.’
‘We know that sooner or later we will have satisfaction,’ she said.
The Italian government announced on the eve of the trial that it would join the trial’s civil portion as an injured party in the case.
Egyptian authorities have alleged that the Cambridge University doctoral student fell victim to ordinary robbers.
The case strained relations between Italy and Egypt, an ally for Rome in efforts to combat terrorism.
At one point, Italy withdrew its ambassador to press for Egyptian cooperation in the investigation.
The four are named in court documents as General Tariq Sabir, Colonels Athar Kamel and Uhsam Helmi and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif, who is accused of carrying out the killing.
Investigators believe Regeni was abducted and killed after being mistaken for a foreign spy.
Prosecutor Michele Prestipino told a parliamentary committee in December that there were ‘elements of significant proof’ implicating Egyptian officers in the murder – an accusation rejected by Egypt.
He had left his apartment with a plan to travel by subway to meet a friend in the city, but was never seen again.
His team allege Sharif got informants to follow Regeni, had him arrested and caused him ‘acute physical suffering’. Regeni’s teeth were broken and his hands and feet fractured. He died of suffocation.
Pictured: A candlelight vigil was held for Regeni across Italy on January 25, 2020, at 7.41pm – the time that he left home for the last time before his death
Letters had also been carved into his skin which is allegedly a calling card for Egypt’s security services.
Regeni’s legal team have requested all Italian prime ministers and foreign ministers since 2016 be called as witnesses, along with the country’s secret service chiefs, according to media reports.
But court-appointed defence lawyer Tranquillino Sarno told AFP the trial would ‘stand or fall’ on whether key eyewitnesses central to the prosecutor’s case made it to Rome to testify in person.
Regeni’s corpse was found nine days after he disappeared and his mother later said it had been so badly mutilated she only recognised her son by the ‘tip of his nose’.
As part of his work for a doctorate, Regeni had been researching Egyptian trade unions, a particularly sensitive political issue.
Regeni’s death triggered fresh criticism of Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Pictured: Protestors rally in front of the Egyptian embassy in London on February 2, 2018
Egypt has previously denied claims he was tortured in order to reveal contacts with opposition figures.
They said he was killed by a criminal gang who were shot and killed by police in Egypt, but this was previously ridiculed by Italian investigators.
Police also initially suggested Mr Regeni had been killed in a road accident.
His death triggered fresh criticism of Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Claudio Francavilla from Human Rights Watch told journalists in Rome on Wednesday that the trial was being closely watched as ‘a symbol of hope for Egyptians’.
Pictured: Pall bearers carry Regeni’s coffin during his funeral service on February 12, 2016
