The Rome magistrate has committed the four Egyptian 007s accused of the kidnapping and murder of Giulio Regeni, which took place in Cairo between January and February 2017, to trial.

The trial has been set by judge Roberto Ranazzi for February 20th before the Court of Assizes of the capital. The charges are variously complicity in aggravated bodily harm, aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping.

"We thank everyone, today is a beautiful day", commented Paola Deffendi, mother of the young researcher.

« The absence of the accused will not reduce the trial to a simulacrum – said the deputy prosecutor, Sergio Colaiocco, in the courtroom during his speech in which he requested the indictment -. Being able to publicly reconstruct the facts and individual responsibilities in a criminal trial corresponds to a constitutional and supranational obligation. An obligation that the Rome Prosecutor's Office has proudly tried to fulfill with full conviction since the beginning of the investigations."

«The judge – explained the lawyer Alessandra Ballerini, lawyer for Giulio Regeni's parents – rejected all the exceptions, including the one on jurisdiction because there can be no doubt, as the defendants' defense did, that even the "mere" kidnappers of Giulio, by capturing him and keeping him kidnapped for 9 days, they caused him physical and psychological suffering ."

The Presidency of the Council of Ministers was admitted as a civil party.

(Unioneonline/D)

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