Egyptian coroners who performed an autopsy on Giulio Regeni found fractures, cuts, burns and bruises on several parts of the slain Italian student's body, Rome prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The injuries on Regeni, whose corpse bore signs of torture, were inflicted with heavy objects and objects with rough surfaces, according to the Rome prosecutors.
The 28-year-old Cambridge University researcher's battered body was found in a ditch on Cairo's western outskirts on 3 February. He disappeared in the Egyptian capital on 25 January amid an unprecedented security clampdown on the fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The autopsy findings emerged during a meeting on Monday in Cairo between Egypt's prosecutor general Nabil Ahmed Sadek and Rome's chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone to discuss progress in the probe of Regeni's murder.
"Both sides agreed to boost direct cooperation to obtain concrete proof and arrest the killers," Italian prosecutors said in a statement late Monday.
Sadek will personally lead the probe, taking over from Giza prosecutors and a meeting between Italian and Egyptian police investigators will take place in Rome "probably before Easter", said the statement.
The results of the Egyptian and Italian autopsies on Regeni have not been made public. But Italian officials said Regeni's body showed clear signs of torture, fuelling suggestions he was kidnapped and murdered by Egyptian security forces for having links with opposition groups.
Italian coroners used X-rays and computerised axial tomography (CAT) scans to examine Regeni's injuries, Pignatone and Rome prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco told Egyptian prosecutors during their meeting.
Cairo has rejected suspicions by many in Italy and elsewhere that Egyptian security forces killed Regeni and has denied he was a spy. It has said criminal motives, 'revenge' or terrorism could lie behind the murder but has so far made no arrests in the case.
Regeni was researching trade union activism in Egypt - a sensitive topic - and had published articles critical of the government and the lack of democracy in the North African country.
