Egypt's General Prosecution refutes letter alleges Regeni's arrest before death

CAIRO - 24 January 2018: The general prosecution said on Wednesday the letter attributed to the head of Egypt's intelligence service on the arrest of Italian student Giulio Regeni prior to his death in Egypt is totally untrue.

An unknown person had sent the letter to the Italian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland.

The general prosecution received a letter from the Italian prosecution dated January 22, 2018 containing a fabricated letter dated January 30, 2016 and attributed to the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, the prosecution said in a Wednesday statement.

The letter claims that Egypt’s security bodies arrested Giulio Regeni before his death in Cairo.

Rome’s prosecution demanded that Egypt’s investigation authorities do whatever necessary in order to check the authenticity of the letter in compliance with judicial cooperation between the two countries on Regeni’s murder, it said.

Investigations conducted by Egypt’s prosecution revealed that the letter is totally bare of truth and forged, read the statement.

The prosecution added that it informed the Italian side about the outcome of investigations within the framework of bilateral fruitful cooperation.

Meanwhile, the prosecution said it followed up with deep regret the reports circulated by several Italian media outlets and social media pages on the matter, noting that such reports harm judicial cooperation between Cairo and Rome.

On that score, the prosecution urged the media to check the authenticity of such news that ignite the public opinion's feelings.

Italy’s Prosecutor-General has paid several visits to Cairo in order to investigate the death of Regeni, alongside the Egyptian authorities.

In July 2017, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi assured a delegation of Italian lawmakers that his government is committed to bringing to justice those responsible for the murder of an Italian student.

“President Sisi stressed the need to continue close cooperation between investigators in the two countries,” his office said in a statement released on July 11, 2017.

“The president reiterated Egypt’s full commitment to working on disclosing the circumstances surrounding the incident so as to determine the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” the statement reads.

The body of Regeni, a Cambridge PhD student who was conducting research on independent trade union movements in Egypt, was found on a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo on February 3, nine days after he disappeared on 25 January.

Contributed by MENA