Cambridge students and residents held a vigil outside Queen Mary’s Church last night to mark the fourth anniversary of former PhD student Giulio Regini’s disappearance.

Around 70 people gathered to hear speeches from Regini’s former colleagues and members of Amnesty International, and held a minute of silence in his honour.

Regeni, a former student at Girton, was in Cairo conducting research on Egyptian trade unions when he disappeared on the 25th of January 2016. His body was found 9 days later, with signs of torture.

Regeni would have completed his PhD this year.

“It’s so sad we have to be here again,” said Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, expressing regret at the lack of progress that has been made on the case. But “we are not going away,″ he added.

The vigil was jointly organised by Amnesty Cambridge City Group, the University’s Amnesty International Society and UCU.

Since Regeni’s murder, the campaign seeking to bring those responsible to justice has seen obstruction from Egyptian authorities.

In 2018, Italian prosecutors named five senior members of the Egyptian security forces as suspects, but the Egyptian government has not extradited these individuals to Italy to face trial.

Zeichner criticised the British government as well as the Egyptian authorities, condemning “the lack of tenacity our government has shown on this issue”.

Many who attended the vigil knew Regeni personally during his time at Cambridge. Dr Glen Rangwala expressed his sadness over the loss of a “highly promising young scholar” who was a “kind, gentle, and jovial person,” and urged attendees not to forget him.

Speaking to Varsity, Chair of Cambridge’s University Amnesty International Society Bex Newell suggested students who wanted to help the ’Justice for Giulio’ campaign could write letters to the Egyptian Authorities or post on social media.

“We should never lose hope that we can find truth for Giulio. If we unite as a student body, it makes us all the more powerful,” she said.

Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope commemorated Regeni in a message on LinkedIn, celebrating the student’s academic accomplishments and reflecting on “a life of promise cut tragically short”.

“Once again our thoughts are with Giulio’s family, with his friends and with colleagues in his College and Department.”

Amnesty International will hold another vigil outside the Egyptian Embassy in London next Saturday, 1st February.