The case of Giulio Regeni has impacted Egyptian-Italian relations as it has built a presumptive Italian public opinion that gets ahead of investigations, said the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry.
In an interview with state-run radio on Tuesday, Shoukry added that Egypt is keen on cooperating with the Italian investigators and on taking every measure to ensure finding the truth about the occurrences of his death.
Meanwhile, Cambridge University denied the accusations of Italian officials that it is not cooperating with the Italian investigations on the murder of Regeni.
A letter published by The Guardian and signed by several Cambridge professors denounced the Italian reports claiming that Regeni’s professor refused to help the investigators, withholding information about his work in Egypt.
“These allegations are simply not true,” read the letter. “All those at Cambridge associated with Giulio Regeni have cooperated with the investigation from the beginning, providing answers to any questions, either orally or in writing.”
The letter added that the central university authorities have not received any request for help from Italian prosecutors and remain ready to react quickly to any request for assistance.
Italian deputy minister of foreign affairs Mario Giro criticised Cambridge for not cooperating with the Italian prosecution in the Giulio Regeni case. Regeni was an Italian researcher who was found tortured and killed in Egypt in February.
“Shame on you, Cambridge University. You value your ‘secret research’ over a human life,” said Giro on his Twitter account. “What are you hiding?” he added.
The Cambridge University staff that supervised Regeni while he was in Egypt allegedly refused to answer the Italian prosecutors’ questions about Regeni’s work on Egyptian trade unions.
Regeni’s family has urged the British university to cooperate with investigators to reach the truth.
“We entrusted our son Giulio to the university community of Cambridge, and we expected the utmost, concrete solidarity from this community, and therefore, total collaboration in the search for the truth about his kidnapping and terrible murder in Cairo while he was doing research work for the university,” the family said earlier in a statement.
“Those who believe in the rigour of research, the duty of solidarity, and the safeguard of human rights cannot shun the moral and civic duty to contribute to the investigations,” they added.
Regeni went missing on 25 January and his battered body was found over a week later on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road.
Relations between Egypt and Italy have become tense since his death, with Rome recalling ambassador to Egypt Maurizio Massari over the case.
