Italian judge orders Egyptian officials be tried for murder of Guilio Regeni

Four senior members of Egypt's security forces will be ordered to stand trial over the Cambridge student's kidnapping, torture and killing in 2016

The Cambridge student had spotted that trade unionism is the greatest threat to dictatorship

An Italian judge has ordered four high-ranking members of Egypt's security forces to stand trial over their suspected role in the kidnapping, torture and killing of Cambridge University student Giulio Regeni in 2016, according to a legal source.

Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian postgraduate student, went missing in Cairo at the start of 2016.

His body was found nine days later by the side of the Cairo-Alexandria road on the capital's outskirts. A post-mortem showed he had been tortured before his death, with letters carved onto his body and signs of cigarette burns and cuts.

On Tuesday, Italian prosecutors said their investigation showed that four Egyptian officials were responsible for the "aggravated kidnapping" of Regeni.

The four men have been named as Major Sherif Magdy from General Intelligence, Major General Tarek Sabir, the former head of state security, police colonel Hisham Helmy and colonel Ather Kamal, a former head of investigations in the Cairo municipality.

One of the four, Major Sharif, was also involved in a "conspiracy to commit aggravated murder", prosecutors added.

Presiding over a preliminary hearing, an Italian judge agreed there was sufficient evidence to indict the four officials – all senior members of Egypt's security services – and ordered the trial to open on October 14, the legal source said.

The four suspects are unlikely to attend the trial, as Italian judicial sources say their Egyptian counterparts have not provided their addresses.

Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement in the disappearance and killing of Regeni, who was a postgraduate student at Cambridge University's Girton College.

He had been in Cairo to research independent labour unions in Egypt for his doctoral thesis, while associates have said he was also interested in alternatives to the domination of the country's economy by the state and military. Both are sensitive topics in Egypt.

Investigators in Italy and Egypt had been working together on Regeni’s death but in December last year, Egypt said it was temporarily suspending its investigation into his murder, citing reservations about evidence Italy had compiled.

Egypt has previously denied its security services were involved in his death, and initially put his death down to a car accident, before saying a gang was responsible.

Egyptian officials could not be reached for comment following the Italian prosecutors' charge sheet.