Three convictions and one acquittal: this is how the trial ended for the kidnapping, torture and murder of Giulio Regeni, the Italian researcher who disappeared in Cairo on 25 January 2016 and was found dead on 3 February. Ten years of cover-ups, obstructions and a lack of cooperation on the part of Egypt, which has always tried to shield and protect those responsible for the murder. Today's verdict, in reality, delivers only partial justice to Regeni and his family: the convictions relate solely to Giulio's kidnapping, not to the torture and murder.

What the Court decided on the Regeni case

Four members of the Egyptian security apparatus stood before Rome's first Court of Assizes. Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, Uhsam Helmi and Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. The judges excluded the aggravating circumstances contested by the prosecution and ordered the three to be permanently barred from public office. Tareq Sabyr, the fourth defendant, was acquitted on the grounds that he "did not commit the act". This outcome stands in stark contrast to the life sentences requested by the prosecution; up to 90 days will be needed to read the full reasoning. None of the defendants ever appeared in court: the trial was made possible only thanks to the Constitutional Court, which in 2023 ruled that for crimes of State torture, absence cannot become de facto immunity. Without that decision, after the proceedings were halted in 2021, the case would have ground to a halt. It is very hard, at this point, to imagine Egypt agreeing to extradite the three convicted men.

Rome's chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi commented that, from what can be understood from the operative part of the ruling, the main thrust of the prosecution's case held up. A result achieved, he said, despite what he described as a "not particularly fruitful" level of cooperation from the Egyptian authorities. To get the full picture, he added, it will be necessary to wait for the court's reasoning.

The family's appeal to the Italian government

Alessandra Ballerini, the Regeni family's lawyer, spoke on their behalf. "Today we know that our faith in justice has been well placed," she said. "Beyond the individual convictions, it is clear that the body of evidence presented by the Prosecution has withstood the Court's scrutiny." Ballerini recalled the words of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who has said that truth and justice must not be subject to compromise. Today, she said, those words took shape in a verdict pronounced "in the name of the Italian people." She then addressed the government directly. "Now our government too will have to take note of this," she said, and "break ties with a country that, far from being safe, tortures and kills even the citizens of so-called friendly States." The Regeni family's lawyer also called for compensation to be sought, as already requested by the State Legal Office. Above all, however, the significance of the ruling goes beyond this single case: from tonight, she explained, regimes and their apparatus will have to remember that human dignity is inviolable, as are people's bodies, that impunity can be defeated and that democracies can erect a barrier against arbitrary power: "a safeguard for every Giulio and Giulia in the world."