A minute silence will be held at the vigil at 6.41pm, when the last communication was received from GiulioEPA

A vigil, co-hosted by Amnesty UK’s Cambridge City Group and Cambridge UCU, will be held in memory of Girton PhD student, Giulio Regeni, on the 25th January on King’s Parade to mark the anniversary of his disappearance in January 2016.

Regeni went missing on a research trip in Cairo in January 2016. His body was found on 3rd February of the same year, showing signs of significiant mutilation and torture.

Italian authorities have been investigating Regeni’s death in coordination with Egyptian officials but no one has been charged four years after Regeni’s disappearance.

Italian prosecutors accused Egyptian officials of attempting to mislead the investigation into Regeni’s death. Prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco said that: “Fake stories were fabricated to throw off the investigation” almost as soon as Regeni’s body was found.

Regeni’s friends and family have long alleged that the Egyptian authorities were involved in the student’s killing, but the Egyptian government denies the claim and has offered other explanations, including that Regeni was killed in a car accident or by a criminal gang.

Regeni was conducting his research on Egyptian trade unions, which is a controversial topic for the country’s military regime as trade unions played a role in toppling the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The new government cracked down on union activity in the country as a result.

Regeni may have come to the attention of the authorities as a result of the meetings he organised with union leaders over the course of his research.


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In November 2018, Italian prosecutors named several members of the Egyptian national security agency as suspects to Regeni’s alleged torture and murder. Egyptian officials have admitted that security services were monitoring Regeni but have denied that he died in custody.

The University was criticised in 2017 by the Italian government for its alleged refusal to cooperate with the Italian investigation into Regeni’s death.

Posting on Facebook, Cambridge University Amnesty International (CUAI) wrote: “This is a very important event to mark the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of Giulio Regeni. CUAI will be co-hosting and it would be great to see as many Cambridge students as possible.”

A minute silence will be held at the vigil at 6.41pm, when the last communication was received from Giulio.