26 EU MEPs Call for Fair Trial into Regeni’s Murder
Twenty-six members of the European Parliament have expressed their deep concern about the murder of the Italian researcher Giulio Regeni while on a research visit to Egypt in 2016 as part of his PhD studies. Regeni was murdered in mysterious circumstances and was found lying on the road with his lower half of the body naked and with bruises on his body indicating that he was tortured.
After the spread of the news of Regeni’s death, the Italian authorities took action to find out who the real murderers were, but the Egyptian authorities were not of much help where they hindered the access of the Italian investigators to the available information that hindered solving the case.
Although Egypt has promised it will adopt necessary measures to find out who murdered Giulio and how, and to bring them before to justice, this didn’t happen. The Egyptian security declared that they arrested the murderers after breaking into an apartment where Giulio's passport was found. The Italian public did not take the Egyptian announcement seriously as those who were arrested were 60 miles away from the murder scene when it took place.
The 26 MEPs called on the EU to pressure the Egyptian authorities to resume the investigation into the murder of Giulio and to reveal the truth about it.
They also called on the EU to pressure the Egyptian authorities to give the Italian authorities access to the available information about the case which could help reveal the truth about what happened, four years on.
The MEPs called for forming an Italian/Egyptian investigation team and sharing the information and results of this investigation with the public, applying pressure by the EU on parties holding critical information and providing protection that hinders serving justice to the family of Regeni, and providing protection for researchers working in the MENA region and make sure that authorities don’t violate their rights because of their work.
Signatories:
1. MEP Brando BENIFEI.
2. MEP Irena JOVEVA.
3. MEP Francisco Guerreiro.
4. Mounir Satouri
5. MEP Dietmar KÖSTER.
6. MEP Eleonora EVI.
7. MEP Saskia Bricmont.
8. MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo.
9. MEP Bettina VOLLATH.
10. MEP Milan BRGLEZ.
11. MEP Ignazio Corrao.
12. MEP Rosa D'Amato.
13. MEP Ivan Vilibor Sinčić.
14. MEP Evin Incir.
15. MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski.
16. MEP Sylvie GUILLAUME.
17. MEP Piernicola Pedicini.
18. MEP Karen MELCHIOR.
19. MEP Tiziana BEGHIN.
20. MEP Margrete Auken.
21. MEP Kira Peter-Hansen.
22. MEP Erik Marquardt.
23. MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio.
24. MEP Alessandra MORETTI.
25. MEP Marc TARABELLA.
26. MEP Marisa MATIAS.