Giulio Regeni trial suspended over lack of Egyptian cooperation: Italian media

The trial of four Egyptian security officers accused of involvement in the 2016 abduction and murder of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo was suspended by a Rome judge on Monday, Italy’s National Associated Press Agency [ANSA]  said.

ANSA reported that there had been a lack of cooperation from authorities in Egypt, who failed to locate the four personnel to give them notice that they have been indicted.

This prompted the judge to issue an order to the Special Operations Group of Italy’s national gendarmerie to track them down.

The Italian judge describes the excuse given by the Cairo prosecutor general as "specious" and said that Egypt’s refusal to cooperate on the case was now "a proven fact," said ANSA.

The trial of the four men was dropped in October by an Italian court, which said that they could not be tried in absentia because prosecutors had been unable to officially inform them of the judicial process against them.

Guilio Regeni, who was studying for a Ph. D. at Cambridge University, was conducting research on independent Egyptian trade unions. He disappeared on 25 January 2016 and his mutilated body was found in a ditch alongside the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway nine days later.

Regeni’s family have vowed to continue with the case, calling on the EU for assistance.

Rome recalled its ambassador from Cairo months after the murder, after Egypt failed to provide any assistance in the case.