Italian Prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco arrived in Cairo last week for two days of talks with officials — including his Egyptian counterpart Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek — investigating the brutal murder of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni. Regeni, 28, a student at Cambridge University in the UK and affiliated with the American University in Cairo, was in Egypt to research trade unions and labour movements. He was reported missing on the fifth anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. His mutilated and half-naked body was found on 3 February 2016 on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. Egypt's ongoing investigation into Regeni's gruesome death has yet to identify his killers. The office of the prosecutor-general said it handed over files and records requested by Italian prosecutors, during last week's meeting with visiting Italian delegation. A joint statement issued last Wednesday by Italian and Egyptian prosecutors said they were evaluating the latest developments in the investigation. “During the meeting the two parties discussed the latest developments in the investigation and renewed their commitment to direct cooperation in achieving justice for the victim,” the statement said. According to the statement, Sadek told the Italian delegation that Egypt will hand over footage from CCTV cameras at a Cairo metro station, close to Regeni's flat in Dokki, before the end of May. The footage was first requested by Italian investigators on 6 April 2016 during the visit to Rome of an Egyptian delegation, headed by Deputy Prosecutor-General Mustafa Suleiman and including police officers involved in the Regeni case. At the time the Egyptian authorities said they were unable to deliver the requested footage because it had been auto-deleted. The case has strained relations between Cairo and Rome. Last year Italy recalled its ambassador for “consultations” over the lack of progress in Egypt's investigation into Regeni's death. An autopsy conducted by Egypt's Forensic Medicine Authority said Regeni died as a result of blunt force trauma caused by a sharp object hitting the back of the head causing a cranial fracture and severe intracranial haemorrhaging. It also noted signs of torture on the body including cigarette burns, bruises and cuts. A senior source at the authority told Reuters that “Regeni had seven broken ribs, signs of electrocution on his penis, traumatic injuries all over his body, and a brain haemorrhage.” Regeni's body had cuts from a sharp instrument, must likely a razor, abrasions and bruises. “He was probably assaulted using a stick as well as being punched and kicked,” the source said. A second autopsy, conducted after Regini's body was returned to Italy, said the student had been subjected to what Italian Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano described as “inhuman, animal-like” violence. The ANSA news agency quoted sources close to the Italian coroners as saying “the findings showed that Regeni's neck was twisted, the vertebra was broken, and he was left unable to breathe.”
