Giulio Regeni case: three Egyptian agents sentenced to 10 years, fourth acquitted

Rome — Three Egyptian intelligence officers have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the kidnapping of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, while a fourth defendant was acquitted, in a landmark verdict delivered in Rome more than 10 years after Regeni disappeared in Cairo.

The First Court of Assizes of Rome convicted Colonels Uhsam Helmi and Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif of the aggravated kidnapping of Regeni, who disappeared on January 25, 2016. General Tariq Sabir was acquitted.

The court did not uphold the murder charge. Sharif, for whom prosecutors had sought a life sentence, had also faced charges relating to aggravated personal injury and aggravated murder.

The four defendants were tried in absentia and have never appeared before the Italian court. The verdict marks the first judicial finding of responsibility in Italy in a case that has strained relations between Rome and Cairo for a decade.

Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, was carrying out research into Egyptian trade unions when he disappeared. His body was found on February 3, 2016, on the outskirts of Cairo, bearing extensive signs of violence and torture.

Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi welcomed the verdict while stressing that the court had not convicted the defendants on every charge brought against them.

“What we are particularly satisfied about is that we managed to bring the case out of the quagmire in which it had ended up,” Lo Voi said after the ruling. He also highlighted the fact that the proceedings had ultimately been conducted before an independent Court of Assizes, with court-appointed lawyers representing the absent defendants.

Lo Voi said the prosecution would wait for the written reasoning behind the verdict before deciding whether there were grounds for an appeal. The court is expected to file the reasons within 90 days.

The court also ordered the three convicted defendants to pay compensation for material and non-material damages to the Regeni family and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, with the final amounts to be determined in separate civil proceedings.

It awarded immediately enforceable provisional payments of €200,000 each to Regeni’s parents, Claudio Regeni and Paola Deffendi, €100,000 to his sister Irene and €150,000 to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The verdict followed years of legal obstacles surrounding the case, including the inability of Italian authorities to notify the Egyptian defendants of the proceedings. The trial was eventually allowed to proceed in their absence following intervention by Italy’s Constitutional Court.

Prosecutors had requested a life sentence for Sharif and 17 years and six months for each of the other three defendants. The prosecution had argued that Regeni had been targeted by Egyptian security services and subjected to detention and torture before his death. The defence disputed the accusations and argued that the evidence was insufficient to establish the defendants’ individual responsibility.

Outside the Rome courthouse, Regeni’s parents and sister were joined by their lawyer Alessandra Ballerini and supporters from the so-called “yellow people” movement, whose campaign for truth and justice has continued since Regeni’s death.

“Few people would have bet that we would get to a trial and then to a verdict,” Ballerini said before the ruling. “This is already a victory, but obviously we are not satisfied.”

The case has remained a major point of tension between Italy and Egypt. Italian investigators have maintained that Egyptian security personnel were responsible for Regeni’s abduction and subsequent treatment, while Egyptian authorities have rejected the Italian findings and denied responsibility.

For Regeni’s family, the ruling represents the first judicial verdict in a case that has remained unresolved for a decade, although the court’s decision not to uphold the murder charge leaves the circumstances surrounding his death without a criminal conviction in this trial.

PS