A blow of brilliance is announced Monday, December 14, at the Farnese Palace, seat of the French Embassy in Rome. The Italian writer and journalist Corrado Augias, 85, intends to attend to restore the Legion of Honor with which he was awarded in 2007. “A gesture as serious as it is purely symbolic, I would say sentimental. I feel that I owe it because of the deep emotional and emotional bond that I have with France ”, land of origin of his father, writes M. Augias in a text published by the daily The Republic, of which he is a regular collaborator.
The reason for this approach: the visit to France, last week, of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, and the consideration that was reserved for him. The leader was indeed decorated, in all discretion, with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor by Emmanuel Macron. Only the images shot by the Egyptian presidency, taken up by the program “Quotidien” on TMC, made it possible to learn of the existence of this event.
Al-Sissi in Paris: gala, legion of honor … Today, for the first time, we had to go to the website … https://t.co/C6bWTmu3jY
Former MEP from 1994 to 1999 (PDS, left), Corrado Augias is known as a host of cultural programs on television. He has also published many successful books, devoted to Rome, Jesus, the Vatican, or even Italy explained to the French (Flammarion, 2011). In his letter, he explains that Marshal Sissi “Objectively became an accomplice of criminal atrocities”. The writer thus refers to the tragic fate of Giulio Regeni.
In January 2016, this 28-year-old Italian sociology doctoral student, working on trade unions in Egypt and holder of a Cambridge University scholarship, was kidnapped and tortured in Cairo. His body was found mutilated a week later on the side of a road, not far from a suburb of the capital, causing considerable emotion in Italy.
Overwhelming conclusions
Almost five years after the events, the memory of the student has not died out, thanks to the efforts of human rights NGOs and a very active support committee. On hundreds of town halls, universities and official buildings across the country, large yellow banners are still displayed, crossed out with the slogan “Verità per Giulio Regeni” in large black letters.
Faced with the manifest ill will of the Egyptian authorities who, during the first months after the tragedy, multiplied the contradictory versions on the young man’s disappearance, the Renzi government decided in May 2016 to recall its ambassador to Cairo. Rome did not reverse this decision until a year and a half later, on August 14, 2017, without having obtained anything tangible in return. The situation in Libya, where Italy has important economic and geopolitical interests, required the Italian government to reopen an official channel of discussion with Cairo.
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