Egypt to share CCTV footage as part of probe into Italian student’s death

Giulio Regeni had been doing postgraduate research into Egyptian trade unions before his death in 2016

Activists of human rights organization Amnesty International hold a picture of Giulio Regeni and candles as they take part in a demonstration in front of Montecitorio, the Italian Parliament, in Rome on January 25, 2017, to mark the first anniversary since the disappearance of Italian student Giulio Regeni.  
Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student from Italy, disappeared on January 25, 2016, in central Cairo, as police were out in force in anticipation of protests that day. His body was later found by the side of a road bearing signs of torture. He had been researching street vendor trade unions, an especially sensitive political issue in Egypt, with successive governments fearing strikes and unrest. Egypt has forcefully denied that its police were involved in his abduction. / AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO
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Egypt’s state prosecutor said on Monday a team of Italian experts would go to Cairo next week to take part in the retrieval of CCTV recordings as part of the investigation into the 2016 killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni.

Mr Regeni had been doing postgraduate research into Egyptian trade unions before his death in 2016. His body, showing signs of torture, was found in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo.

The Egyptian public prosecutor Nabil Sadek said in a statement he had invited Rome’s chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone in a telephone call on Sunday to send a delegation to attend the retrieval of the Cairo metro CCTV recordings on May 15.

Mr Sadek said Cairo had agreed to give the Italian delegation a copy of the recordings.

“The Rome chief prosecutor has decided to send a delegation headed by his assistant, Sergio Colaiocco, and comprising Italian technical experts to attend the retrieval process, on which both sides pin high hopes to reach the truth about the incident and to uncover its perpetrators,” the statement said.

“They agreed that the Rome prosecution will obtain a copy of what is retrieved at the end of the process.”

Egypt agreed last year to allow experts from Italy and a German company that specialises in salvaging CCTV footage to examine cameras in Cairo, but the timing of the trip was not known.

Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Mr Regeni’s death.