The murdered Italian student who was found dead in Egypt has undergone another autopsy, revealing he suffered "inhuman, animal-like violence" before being dumped on a highway. Italy's interior minister, Angelino Alfano, announced on Sunday that he has pressed Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, to cooperate with the criminal investigation to bring justice to the doctoral student's death.
In a report by New York Post, the slain student has been identified as Giulio Regeni and Rome prosecutors have opened a murder investigation. His corpse was found near a highway outside Cairo nine days after being reported missing.
His body was found naked from the waist down and had cigarette burns on his body, Mirror reported. There were also stab marks on his shoulders and cuts on his ear and nose.
A few hours after Egyptian authorities discovered his body, Italy's ambassador said that the victim showed signs of brutal beating and torture. The first autopsy was done in Egypt before the body was flown to Italy last Saturday. Partial of the official results of the second autopsy said that Italian coroners found out that Regeni's neck was twisted or struck, which led to a vertebra being broken and leaving him unable to breathe, CNS News reported.
The analysis of Regeni's tissue and body fluids which will help in the pinpointing when the student died is expected to take a couple of days. Alfano added, "We had to view the results of the autopsy" adding that Regeni suffered "something inhuman, animal-like, an unacceptable violence." Alfano also said that the president of Egypt should work with the Egyptian authorities as they have dispatched Italian police to Cairo over the weekend.
Rights groups have accused the Egyptian police of regularly torturing people being detained such as activists or Islamists in secret without reporting the arrests made. Regani had been in Cairo for a few months before he went missing as part of his Ph.D. research about Egyptian labor movements. He then disappeared last January 25, which was the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising.
He reportedly left his apartment to travel by subway to meet a friend in downtown Cairo. When his body was found, Egyptian authorities attributed the slain student's death to road accident.
Reports in Italy are saying that Egyptian forces interrogated Regeni as they wanted to learn about the contact he has made as part of his research. However, Egypt's foreign minister, Corriere della Sera, denied the accusations and noted that they are judgments, insinuations, and statements made without proof. The full result of the second autopsy is expected to be released soon.
