Judge orders four Egyptians to stand trial for Regeni murder

An Italian judge rules that there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial over the murder of student Giulio Regeni in Egypt.

An Italian judge has ordered four high-ranking members of Egypt’s National Security Agency (NSA) to stand trial for their suspected role in the abduction, torture and murder of Giulio Regeni, an Italian student who was found dead on the outskirts of capital Cairo five years ago. Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral student researching trade unions in Egypt, disappeared in Cairo on January 25, 2016. His body was found on the side of a highway nine days later, bearing extensive signs of torture. In Tuesday’s long-awaited preliminary hearing, the judge agreed that the evidence collected by Rome prosecutors during a four-year-long investigation is sufficient to press charges against General Tariq Sabir, Colonel Usham Helmi, Colonel Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif for aggravated kidnapping. Sharif is also being accused of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.