La famiglia Regeni chiede che l’Italia rompa i legami con l’Egitto dopo la condanna dei colpevoli
ROMA – “Ora il governo rompa con l’Egitto, uno Stato che tortura e uccide anche cittadini degli Stati cosiddetti amici”, ha dichiarato la famiglia Regeni attraverso un comunicato read by their attorney Alessandra Ballerini. The lawyer recalled the words of President Sergio Mattarella, who stated that “truth and justice must not be subject to compromise”. She added: “Now we know that our trust in justice was well placed”. Despite the reduced sentences compared to the prosecutor’s demands, for the family this marks a moment they have been waiting for during ten long years of struggle: there is finally a legal truth. Exiting the courtroom, Giulio’s mother, Paola Deffendi, told journalists: “We are satisfied”, riporta Attuale.
Political reactions are also focused on relations with Egypt. For the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, who also participated in the sit-in in front of the courthouse, this is a “historic sentence,” which arrived “thanks to the extraordinary work of the Prosecutor’s Office and lawyers, and the tenacity of the family”. Schlein called on the government to act: “No one can deny the responsibilities of the Egyptian regime anymore. This must be acknowledged and acted upon”. Laura Boldrini (Democratic Party) described it as a “victory of civil society which prevented the silence from falling over the horrific death of Giulio Regeni”.
Also, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni (Left Alliance) addressed Prime Minister Meloni: “Call Al Sisi and demand the extradition of the convicts”. This request is echoed by Riccardo Magi (Più Europa), who demands the handover of the guilty. Giuseppe Conte (5 Star Movement) expressed that “the government must draw the consequences”.
The oppositions have formally asked Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani for an urgent report, inquiring “what the government intends to do to enforce the sentence” and what the relations with Egypt will be. However, Tajani has already commented on the sentence: “There was a conviction, the country Egypt was not condemned, three individuals were condemned. This is just the first-instance judgment; justice will take its course”.
Other legal initiatives are also possible. Riccardo Pisillo Mazzeschi, emeritus professor of International Law at Siena, considers the sentence significant despite the difficulties of enforcing it: “It is possible to pursue a civil action against the Egyptian State,” he explains, “since there is a clear responsibility for not collaborating with the investigation concerning serious international crimes such as torture”.
But that’s not all: “An action directly by the Italian State against the Egyptian one would also have been possible based on the UN Convention against Torture, which provides for international arbitration, but in this case, the political will to do so was lacking”.
