Italy praised Egypt on Sunday for its "excellent cooperation" in an investigation into the 2016 death of an Italian student whose killing threatened to severely damage relations with Europe.

Giulio Regeni disappeared on Jan. 25, 2016, while doing postgraduate research on Egyptian trade unions. His body was discovered on Feb. 3 and Egyptian investigators found signs of extensive torture.

Intelligence and security sources told Reuters in 2016 that police had arrested Regeni outside a Cairo metro station on Jan. 25 of that year and then transferred him to a compound run by Homeland Security.