Investigations into the torture and murder of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni were resumed on Friday, despite the Interior Minister indicating the perpetrators.
The interior ministry linked Regeni's death to a gang notorious for kidnapping and robbing foreigners in the district of New Cairo. On Thursday members of the gang were shot dead by police during an attempted arrest, following the kidnap of a group of foreigners from New Cairo. All gang members at the crime scene were killed.
The ministry claims that Regeni’s belongings were found at the house of a gang member's sister.
Informed sources from the ministry have said that the ministry’s statement was accurate, as it only mentioned that the student’s belongings were in possession of one of the suspects’ relatives, which does not confirm their involvement in his murder.
Investigation services, in coordination with an Italian security team, have resumed their search. In addition to other lines of inquiry into the Regeni case, the teams are now looking into the locations and circumstances of the various crimes committed by the New Cairo kidnapping gang. They are also investigating the relations between gang members and those associated with them, a ministry statement said.
This was confirmed by Italian investigators, who reiterated that the case is still not closed.
"The Italian government is still determined that the investigation sheds full and total light, without a shadow of a doubt, on the death of the young Italian researcher," a source in Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's office said.
Meanwhile, the Shubra al-Kheima prosecution have heard a testimony from the wife of gang leader Tarek Saad Abdel Fattah, shot dead by police Thursday.
She said that her husband used to lead a gang that dressed as policemen and that he committed crimes in Cairo and Giza. According to the wife, the gang leader possessed a fake policeman's identification card, and five days ago had come into the possession of a bag later identified as Regeni’s, saying it belonged to a friend.
Residents of New Cairo told Al-Masry Al-Youm that they heard the sound of gunshots being fired and were ordered by police to stay at home.
The prosecution has remanded the wife, brother, sister and of Abdel Fattah, as well as his sister’s husband, who will undergo four days of investigations.
The prosecution accused Abdel Fattah's relatives of hiding a criminal and possessing belongings of a victim. It has been demanded that the outcome of the investigations be added to Regeni’s case file.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
