Regeni case: verdict due tomorrow – life imprisonment sought for one of the four Egyptian intelligence agents

The investigation and trial were carried out by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office despite the stance taken by Egypt over the years. The Roman magistrates accuse the Egyptian authorities of having obstructed the establishment of the facts through silence, self-serving accounts and false information.

According to the indictment, Egypt appears to have chosen to protect the men involved in the Regeni case rather than cooperate fully with the search for the truth.

This is also why, from the prosecutors’ perspective, the trial takes on a significance that goes beyond the killing of a single man. At its heart lies violence perpetrated in a systematic and organised manner against a defenceless person, who was deprived of any protection after being abducted.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office describes what happened to Regeni as a process of the gradual erosion of all safeguards. First, the deprivation of liberty; then torture; and finally, death.

According to the prosecution, the researcher was also stripped of his status as a person entitled to rights. This is an element that the judges consider central to the characterisation of the conduct of which the defendants stand accused. According to the prosecution’s account, it was men belonging to the Egyptian security services who carried out all of this.

Giulio Regeni’s parents will also be present when the verdict is read out, just as they were throughout the trial. Ever since their son’s body was found in Cairo, they have been calling for those responsible for his death to be held to account and for truth and justice to be served.

Standing alongside them is the lawyer Alessandra Ballerini, who is representing the family. She has repeatedly emphasised the determination with which Regeni’s parents have faced the Egyptian regime over the years, without backing down and without losing their dignity.

Tomorrow, it will be up to the First Court of Assizes in Rome to determine whether the account of events presented in court by the Public Prosecutor’s Office will result in the sentences sought. 3,890 days after Giulio Regeni’s body was found, the trial is thus reaching its first verdict.