Rome court sentences 3 Egyptian security officials to 10 years over Giulio Regeni's abduction

ROME (AP) — A court in Rome on Monday sentenced three Egyptian security officials convicted of aggravated kidnapping in the abduction of an Italian researcher in Cairo to 10 years in prison, while a fourth defendant was acquitted of murder.

The ruling marks the most significant judicial milestone yet in the decade-long quest for accountability over Giulio Regeni’s death. Rome's chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi welcomed the outcome, saying the verdict was achieved despite what he described as a lack of “meaningful cooperation” from Egyptian authorities during the investigation.

“We are satisfied for having brought the case out of the quagmire into which it had risked sinking,” Lo Voi told reporters after the verdict.

Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016, while conducting research on independent trade unions in Egypt. His body was found nine days later on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital bearing signs of extensive torture, according to Italian investigators.

Rome prosecutors had charged the four Egyptians: Tariq Sabir, Hisham Helmi, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif with aggravated kidnapping in connection with Regeni’s disappearance. Sharif had also faced charges related to Regeni’s injuries and death.

Helmi, Ibrahim and Sharif were sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for charges related to Regeni’s abduction, but not for his death. Sabir was acquitted.

The case quickly became one of the most contentious issues in relations between Italy and Egypt. Italian prosecutors maintained that members of Egypt’s security services abducted, detained, tortured and killed Regeni, while Egyptian authorities repeatedly denied state involvement and disputed the findings of the Italian investigation.

The investigation was marked by years of disputes over evidence and judicial cooperation. Italian magistrates accused Egyptian authorities of withholding key information requested through international legal channels, an allegation Cairo rejected.

The proceedings faced repeated delays because the defendants remained in Egypt and never appeared before the Italian court.

Italy’s Constitutional Court ultimately cleared the way for the trial to proceed in absentia, allowing hearings to begin in Rome despite longstanding disputes over notification of the accused.

In June, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Sharif, whom they identified as the man who physically carried out the killing, and prison terms of 17 years and six months for Sabir, Helmi and Ibrahim.

For Regeni’s family, the case became a decade-long campaign for accountability. Their calls for “truth and justice” drew broad support across Italy, where yellow banners bearing Regeni’s name became symbols of solidarity and demands for answers over his death.

The ruling marks the most significant judicial milestone yet in a case that has repeatedly tested relations between Italy and Egypt and drawn international attention to human rights concerns in Egypt.

FILE - A vehicle belonging to the Italian ambassador is parked outside Zeinhom morgue, where the body of Giulio Regeni is being held, Feb. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

Paola Deffendi, Giulio Regeni's mother, center, leaves a courtroom after three of four Egyptian security officials were convicted to 10 years in prison for the abduction and murder of her son in Cairo in 2016, in Rome, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Paola Deffendi, Giulio Regeni's mother, center, reacts with emotion as she leaves a courtroom after three of four Egyptian security officials were convicted to 10 years in prison for the abduction and murder of her son in Cairo in 2016, in Rome, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Paola Deffendi, Giulio Regeni's mother, right, her husband Claudio and their daughter Irene, center, embrace after the verdict of a Rome court which convicted three of four Egyptian security officials to 10 years in prison for the abduction and murder of Giulio in Cairo in 2016, in Rome, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

A New York prosecutor has reopened an investigation into gang rape allegations at a Cornell University fraternity in response to a lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was sexually assaulted in 2024 by seven students after being plied with alcohol and drugs.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that his office will present evidence to a grand jury as he faces questions from the public about why there were no criminal prosecutions in the case.

The woman, identified only by a pseudonym in the lawsuit, filed the complaint Sept. 16, saying she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house on Cornell's campus in October 2024 after being pressured into snorting ketamine, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. She became completely incapacitated while frat members were sexually assaulting her, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, the reopening of the investigation and Cornell’s response have sparked a flood of commentary on social media. Many people have criticized the school and the district attorney’s office in their posts, while some have expressed doubt about the lawsuit’s allegations. Some posted photos of the seven fraternity members.

The accuser is suing the men, the Chi Phi fraternity, the university, an Ithaca bar and others, seeking undisclosed damages. Her attorney did not immediately respond Monday to messages seeking comment on the prosecutor’s decision to reopen the investigation.

The woman went to campus police at the time, but Van Houten said the accuser did not make any claims of being gang-raped or drugged in her initial sworn statement to authorities. The prosecutor also said he was never contacted by the woman's attorney about her statement or about reconsidering the decision not to prosecute, but he reached out to them recently.

“Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” Van Houten said in a statement. “I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members. I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys.”

The university said in a statement that it supports the decision to reopen the investigation. The school said it conducted its own investigation and issued sanctions, including expelling some students and suspending others. It also said the on-campus Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.

School officials on Monday declined to release more information on the sanctions, including how many students were expelled and suspended. In a statement last week responding to the lawsuit, Cornell said federal privacy law barred it from disclosing specific information on individual students.

“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university said. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”

The national chapter of Chi Phi did not immediately return phone and email messages Monday.

The school said it conducted an internal disciplinary investigation in 2024. It said a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, and both the woman and the people accused had the opportunity to testify and present evidence.

The complaint also accuses the university of not preventing the alleged assaults and failing to properly address sexual violence on campus. It includes a photo that it says shows a group chat between frat members discussing the night's events.

The woman, who was a 20-year-old Cornell student at the time and a sorority member, went to campus police about three weeks later, according to the lawsuit. The fraternity and seven of its members were placed on temporary suspension that same day, the lawsuit said.

The woman's complaint said the seven were given “the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell."

Cornell responded Monday, saying that “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement" and noting the expulsions and suspensions.

Cornell also said a school task force on campus sexual assault, formed in February 2025, made recommendations earlier this year. Several of the recommendations have been implemented while others are in development.

The task force report said a 2025 school survey showed 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men reported experiencing sexual assault during their time at Cornell.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Van Houten said, his office has been flooded with phone calls, voicemails and emails about the case from people seeking answers and others making insults and threats.

“While I generally refrain from commenting publicly on criminal investigations, the community outrage stemming from the incomplete news and social media coverage requires that I provide an answer to why the investigation resulted in a lack of criminal charges,” Van Houten said in a statement.

FILE - People walk on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)