Read full joint-statement of Egypt, Rome prosecutions on Regeni murder case

CAIRO - 30 November 2020: The Egyptian Public Prosecution and Italy's Public Prosecution in Rome issued a joint statement on Monday on the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni after being tortured in Cairo in 2016.

The full statement reads as follows:

A statement by the Egyptian Public Prosecution Office and the Republican Prosecution in Rome, on the incident of the murder of the Italian student, Giulio Regeni, within the framework of the mutual and continuous judicial cooperation between the Egyptian Public Prosecution Office and the Republican Prosecution in Rome, over the past years until now and after many meetings were held between the two parties, the most recent of which were the meetings of the investigation teams on the two prosecution on the 28th of last October in Cairo, and one the 5th of November in Rome, where each team provided the other with all the information it had and the results of the investigations into the incident. And after the two teams exchanged views headed by the Egyptian Attorney General and the Republican Attorney General in Rome, they reached the following results:

Firstly: The Prosecution of the Republic in Rome announces its intention to end the investigations into the incident by suspecting five individuals belonging to the security services, who committed individual actions, without having any connection to any Egyptian governmental bodies or institutions. This suspicion was presented, in accordance with the Italian judicial procedures, to the Preliminary Investigations Judge in Rome, to assess and take the judicial procedures in his regard. And that the Egyptian Public Prosecution, despite its briefing and appreciation of the Italian legal procedures, nevertheless has reservations about this suspicion and does not support it, considering that it is not based on firm evidence, and Egyptian Public Prosecution confirms its understanding of the independent decisions that will be taken by the Prosecutor of the Republic in Rome.

Secondly: The Egyptian Public Prosecution announces that it has found firm evidence that gang members committed the stealing of the belongings of the victim who was coerced, as those belongings were found at the residence of one of the gang members, and the testimonies of some witnesses confirmed that. Investigations also revealed that the gang committed similar crimes and among their victims there were foreigners, including Italians, other than the victim. In committing their crimes, they used forged documents, which incorrectly attribute them to an Egyptian security agency. The Egyptian Public Prosecution Office will act according to this.

Thirdly: The Egyptian Public Prosecution confirms that the perpetrator of the incident of murdering the victim is still unknown, and that it will act in the investigation file of the incident by temporarily closing it, while instructing the search and investigation authorities to continue to take all necessary measures to reach the perpetrator of the crime. The Republic Prosecution office in Rome fulfills the decision of the Egyptian Public Prosecution.

Finally, the two parties expressed their commitment to continuing judicial cooperation between them and to provide all the information they reached regarding the incident, to reveal the truth, and the two prosecution offices confirm that the judicial cooperation between them was and remains at the highest levels in all judicial fields.