In this photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior on Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, personal belongings of killed Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, including his passport, are displayed (AP)
Italy's foreign minister appeared unsatisfied with Egypt's new findings concerning the killing of Italian Giulio Regeni, after Egyptian police announced they had killed four gang members seemingly connected with the murder.
"Italy insists: we want the truth," Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on his Twitter feed late Friday.
On Thursday, Egypt's interior ministry said that police had killed all four members of a gang of kidnappers in a shoot-out. The men were known for robbing and kidnapping foreigners, police said, and Regeni's student identity cards, passport and bank card were found in a flat belonging to the sister of one of those killed.
But the latest developments were met with scepticism by the Italian investigators and by Regeni's family.
Rome's chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Pignatone, said on Friday that the investigation into the murder must continue.
He said in a statement that "elements thus far communicated by the Egyptian prosecutors are not satisfactory to shed light on the death of Giulio Regeni or to identify those responsible for the murder."
Regeni's sister, BenzopIrene, posted a photo Friday on her Facebook page showing herself and Regeni's parents holding an Amnesty International flag with the words "Truth for Giulio Regeni" emblazoned across it.
The Italian news website ANSA said Regeni's parents had no comment on the Egyptian authorities' latest account but quoted a source close to the family as saying "they found it hard to believe."
Egyptian prosecutors ordered on Friday the detention of three relatives of the head of the alleged criminal gang on charges of concealing a criminal and hiding stolen items, state news agency MENA reported.
The body of the 28-year-old PhD student, who was living in Cairo and conducting research on independent trade union movements, was found with signs of torture by a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo in February.
He disappeared in the capital Cairo on 25 January, the fifth anniversary of Egypt's 2011 revolution.
Egypt has vigorously denied claims that security forces were involved in Regeni's murder.
Short link: