Egyptian-Italian relations aid investigations in Regeni’s case

CAIRO - 17 August 2017: The Italian political expert, Riccardo Redaelli, stressed that the "normalization of relations" with Egypt would facilitate the investigations in the killing of the Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, according to Avvenire Italian news website on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Italy issued a decision stating that Italy’s ambassador to Egypt, Giampaolo Cantini, will return to Cairo after more than a year following the ambiguous murder of the Italian student Regeni in Egypt.

Redaelli, a political geography professor at the Catholic University of Milan, noted that "Regini’s family's pain and anger at the government's decision is well understood” pointing out that this decision was “expected and logical.”

Redaelli also stressed on the importance of “restoring relations with the most important country in the southern Mediterranean region, especially today,” shedding light on Italy’s interest in Libya.

"We see that Egypt plays a top role” also in the light of developments in “the migration management,” he said, stressing that the restoration of normal diplomatic relations would in fact facilitate the work of Italy’s judges on the Regini case.

On January 25, 2016, the 28-year old Italian postgraduate student Regeni disappeared in Cairo, only for his dead body to be found on February 3 alongside the Cairo-Alexandria highway, bearing signs of extreme torture and beating, according to Reuters. This murder has led to strained relations between Italy and Egypt.