A second trial of four Egyptian security officers accused of kidnapping and brutally murdering an Italian student, Giulio Regeni, in 2016 opened in Rome on Tuesday with his parents vowing to uncover the truth.

On the new trial’s opening day on Tuesday, Regeni’s parents, Claudio and Paola, and his sister Irene unfurled a large yellow banner bearing the words “Truth for Giulio Regeni”, before entering the court.

After a heraing that lasted one-and-a-half hours, the family’s lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini, said her clients looked forward to “finally (having) a trial against those who did all the evil in the world to Giulio.”

Regeni’s parents, Claudio and Paola, and his sister Irene

“We have been waiting eight years for this moment,” Ballerini told journalists outside the courtroom.

None of the four defendants, General Tariq Sabir, Colonels Athar Kamel and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif, were present in court.

Giulio Regeni, had been conducting academic research when he was abducted in January 2016, as his body was found nine days later, dumped on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, bearing extensive signs of torture.

The murder severely strained ties between Italy and Egypt, while Italian MPs later accused Cairo of being “openly hostile” to attempts to try the suspects.

In 2021, Italian judges threw out the first trial the day it opened because prosecutors had not been able to officially inform the four suspects of the procedures against them.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court ruled in September that the case could go ahead in their absence.