Italy's foreign minister has warned he is ready to take "proportional" action if Egypt does not speed up the pace of its investigation into the murder of an Italian student whose violent death in Cairo has strained diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Minister Paolo Gentiloni said he would not accept "distorted or convenient truths" when Egyptian investigators travel to Rome this week.
“If there is not a change in gear, the government is ready to respond by adopting immediate and proportional measures,” Mr Gentiloni told the senate and parliament yesterday. “For [our] national interest, we will not allow Italy’s dignity to be trampled on.”
The minister’s comments reflect the worsening relations between Rome and Cairo two months after Giulio Regeni’s tortured body was found in a ditch in the capital. The student had been researching labour unions when he disappeared on January 25th.
Mr Gentiloni said a dossier sent by Egyptian authorities in March failed to include key information requested by Italy, including Mr Regeni's telephone records and CCTV footage from the Cairo metro.
The minister said he also wanted to know who in Egypt may have put Mr Regeni under surveillance.
A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry criticised his comments, saying they “complicated the situation”.
Gang members
Cairo announced a breakthrough in the case last month, with the foreign ministry stating that gang members they believed to be behind the murder had been killed in a shoot-out.
But the claim has been met with scepticism in Italy, with both Mr Gentiloni and prime minister Matteo Renzi, calling for the truth to come out.
There have been claims that the brutal torture to which Mr Regeni was subjected – leaving his mother to identify him by the tip of his nose – bears the hallmarks of the Egyptian security services.
– (Guardian service)