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

ROME -- 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 aggra...