Italy will seek "a change of pace" from Egyptian investigators probing the 2016 abduction and murder of doctoral student Giulio Regeni, Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said in a statement on Thursday
"Dialogue between Rome prosecutors and their Egyptian counterparts is a step forward, but is clearly not enough," said the statement.
"What Italian magistrates have described in the case of Giulio is disconcerting. We ask Cairo for a change of pace. Enough vacillation and waiting," the statement added.
The minister voiced "deepest solidarity" with Regeni's family and his parents' fight for justice.
The statement came as prosecutors in Italy charged four members of Egypt’s national security agency over Regeni's kidnapping on 25 January and murder, revealing horrific details of the barbaric methods used to torture the 28-year-old to death over the following nine days.
Regeni's mutilated, almost unrecognisable body was found beside the Cairo-Alexandria highway on 3 February 2016.
Prosecutors dropped charges in the case against a fifth Egyptian security official due to insufficient evidence.
Lead Rome prosecutor Michele Prestipino said Italy sought information on 13 additional individuals “but the Egyptian authorities’ lack of response to our requests has impeded our inquiry.”
Egyptian officials have stonewalled Italy’s efforts to investigate, dragging their feet when asked to provide evidence to Rome prosecutors and blaming a criminal gang and enemy political groups for Regeni's death.
At the time of his disappearance, Regeni was researching the politically sensitive topic of independent trade unions in Egypt.
