Cambridge University PhD student Giulio Regeni, 28, was found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo in February, in a case that has strained ties between Italy and Egypt.
Egyptian authorities are working “day and night” to solve the crime, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.
“I promise you that we will do everything to shed light (on the case) and we will get to the truth,” he said.
Addressing Regeni's family, he added: “We will work with the Italian authorities to bring to justice and punish the criminals that killed your son.”
Sisi said that as a “father first and foremost”, he understood the “pain and suffering that you feel at the loss of your son.”
“I feel the shock and bitterness that has broken your heart,” he said.
Regeni disappeared on January 25. Many Italians believe he was abducted and killed by elements of the Egyptian security services, an allegation the authorities in Cairo have rejected as baseless.
His slaying while he was in Cairo doing research for his doctoral thesis has become a cause celebre amongst academics around the world and has turned the spotlight on what rights and opposition groups say are increasing abuses by security services under the military-backed government in Cairo.
CRIME
Egypt vows to shed light on ‘tortured’ Italian student death
Egypt's president on Wednesday vowed to do everything he could to shed light on the death of a young Italian student whose badly mutilated body was found in Cairo.
POLITICS
Italian PM Meloni’s ally gets EU Commission vice president job
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday named Raffaele Fitto, a member of PM Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, executive vice president in the next European Commission, sparking concern among centre-left lawmakers.
Fitto, 55, will be in charge of “cohesion and reforms” and become one of von der Leyen’s key lieutenants in the European Union’s executive body, despite concerns from EU lawmakers on the left and in the centre.
“He will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities,” von der Leyen told a press conference.
Writing on X, Meloni called the choice of Fitto, a member of her Brothers of Italy party, “an important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU”.
“Italy is finally back as a protagonist in Europe,” she added.
Currently Italy’s European affairs minister, Fitto knows Brussels well and is widely regarded as one of the more moderate faces of Meloni’s government.
But as a member of her party, which once called for Rome to leave the eurozone, his potential appointment to such a powerful post had sparked alarm ahead of von der Leyen’s official announcement.
Centrist French MEP Valerie Hayer described it as “untenable” and Fitto is likely to face a stormy confirmation hearing before the European Parliament.
“Italy is a very important country and one of our founding members, and this has to reflect in the choice,” von der Leyen said of his nomination.
READ ALSO: EU chief to hand economy vice-president job to Italian PM Meloni’s party
Fitto was elected three times to the European Parliament before joining Meloni’s administration in 2022, when was charged with managing Italy’s share of the EU’s vast post-Covid recovery plan.
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