Italian judicial sources revealed to Al-Jazeera that there are records with the Italian Public Prosecution, relating to an Egyptian accused in the case of the murder of the researcher Giulio Regeni in Egypt in 2016.
The sources said that Egyptian security forces searched Regeni's apartment before kidnapping him and threatening his roommate, adding that the Egyptian authorities had asked Regeni's partner to monitor him.
She indicated that Regeni's surveillance was carried out under the supervision of Officer Aser Kamel, who is responsible for monitoring foreigners in Egypt, and that the surveillance was carried out through the Nasr City section near the National Security building in which the Italian researcher was killed.
The sources confirmed that the person watching Regeni made two calls to the officer, Aser Kamel, 19 days before the disappearance of the victim.
Charging 4 officers
Earlier, the Italian Public Prosecutor Michael Prettipino announced the end of the investigations in the Regeni case in Egypt in 2016, with charges of premeditated murder, torture and kidnapping against 4 Egyptian officers, while the case against the fifth accused was dropped due to insufficient evidence.
The Italian public prosecutor confirmed in a session of one of the special parliamentary committees the presence of 5 witnesses, one of whom saw Regeni when Egyptian security arrested him, and explained that another witness working in the National Security Branch in Cairo saw Regeni tied and bore signs of torture.
The public prosecutor added that the Italian researcher was tortured several times during his detention, and died as a result of a blow to the head from the back.
The Italian Public Prosecutor said that he informed his Egyptian counterpart of the results of the Italian investigation, and that the Egyptian Public Prosecutor rejected these results.
The Italian prosecution did not reveal the names of the defendants, but gave them 20 days to provide statements or request to hear them in the case, provided that the investigators decide after the expiration of this period whether they will demand their trial or not.
From a previous demonstration demanding accountability for Regeni's killers (Al Jazeera)
Cut diplomatic relations
On the other hand, the Italian Parliament Speaker Roberto Fico said that the House adheres to its position on severing diplomatic relations with Egypt, stressing that the Italians were shocked by the reports of the public prosecutors in Rome regarding the torture that Regeni was subjected to at the hands of Egyptian security.
The head of the Italian parliament added - in an interview with Al Jazeera today, Friday - that the Public Prosecution in Rome will continue to investigate the case, and that the torture the Italian researcher was subjected to "is astonishing."
He said that the investigation committee in Regeni's case concluded that Egyptian security followed him for 40 days before his arrest, and also reached the names of 4 Egyptian General Security persons who participated in his arrest, torture and killing.
Regeni, a 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Cambridge, was conducting a PhD research in Cairo, then he disappeared for 9 days, after which his body was found in February 2016 with signs of torture.