Italy demands unvarnished truth about student's murder in Egypt

 

 Reuters

Italy wants the unvarnished truth about the murder of an Italian student in Cairo, the prime minister's office said on Friday, after Egyptian authorities said they had found the young man's possessions in the hideout of a criminal gang.

Giulio Regeni's broken body was found last month on the outskirts of Cairo. Human rights groups have said signs of torture indicate the 28-year-old was killed by Egyptian security forces, an allegation Cairo has vigorously denied.
On Thursday, Egyptian authorities said a criminal gang that had been killed in a shootout had Regeni's bag and passport in its possession — a statement greeted with scepticism by some Italian politicians.

"The Italian government continues to be determined that the ongoing investigation sheds full and total light, without shadow of a doubt, on the death of the young Italian researcher," a source in Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's office said.
Italy sent a seven-person team to Cairo to investigate, but after almost two months they have not received all the evidence they say is needed to conduct their own investigation properly
Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent deputy for Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, addressed a tweet to Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Friday suggesting the government was more concerned about Italian oil producer Eni's development of the giant Zohr gas field in Egypt than about Regeni.

"Gentiloni, do you want to say something about Regeni and the Egyptians' countless versions, or is oil more important than the murder of one of our citizens?" Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta also entered the fray, saying on Twitter: "I'm sorry, I don't believe it. #Regeni. #Egypt. Do not stop asking for #truthforGiulioRegeni."

Russia expects flights to Egypt to resume by beginning of summer — deputy foreign minister

Tass

 

 

 

 

 

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Moscow hopes that air communication with Egypt will be restored by the beginning of the summer, Russia and Egypt are actively working in this direction, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday answering a question from a TASS correspondent about the prospects for resuming flights between the two countries.

"Work is in progress, let’s hope flights will resume by the summer," the diplomat said. "Security specialists are cooperating closely. Now we have reached the final stage of the talks."

Flights between Russia and Egypt were discontinued on November 6, 2015, in the wake of a terrorist attack aboard Kogalymavia’s passenger jet en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St.Petersburg on October 31. Representatives of a number of Russian agencies have repeatedly travelled to Egypt to check aviation safety standards.

Russian and Egyptian presidents Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in a telephone conversation on March 7, pointed to the importance of creating all necessary conditions for resuming flights and tourist exchanges.