Corrado Augias: “In memory of Giulio Regeni, I return the Legion of Honor to France”

Corrado Augias announced his decision to return the Legion of Honor to France as a sign of protest after French President Emmanuel Macron granted the same recognition to Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the president of that Egypt who was responsible for the assassination of the Italian investigator Jules regeni. “Dear Director, tomorrow, Monday, December 14, I will go to the French Embassy to return the insignia of the Legion of Honor that was given to me at that time. A gesture of the same seriousness and purely symbolic, I could say sentimental. I feel that I have to do it because of the deep cultural and emotional bond that binds me to France, my family’s homeland. My view is that President Macron should not have bestowed the Legion of Honor on a head of state who has objectively become an accessory to heinous criminals. I say for the memory of the unfortunate Giulio Regeni, but also for France, because of the importance that this recognition still represents more than two centuries after its foundation ”, Augias writes in an open letter published on The Republic.

“Where and what are the merits of President Al-Sisi? The awards and honors of the States are subject to the changing trend of history, it may happen that a sign granted at a given moment becomes a shameful gesture for the subsequent behavior of the winner. In this case, however, things are already clear today. The behavior of the Egyptian authorities, starting with its president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was criminal, violated the canons of justice, even before those of humanityAugias continues in another passage in his letter to the editor of the Roman newspaper.

“Now Italy faces a real alternative from the devil. You run the risk of being wrong with whatever decision you make. If you maintain normal diplomatic relations with Egypt, you will appear to betray the memory of a good university researcher who was tortured and killed for the academic work he did. If he interrupts them, he will be replaced, within a few days, by other countries in many fruitful commercial and industrial relations. In both cases, an irrecoverable loss, although of a different nature, ”Augias continues, before presenting the text of the letter delivered to the French ambassador. “I painfully put on the badge, I was proud to show the red ribbon on the buttonhole of the jacket. But I don’t feel like sharing this honor with a head of state who has objectively become an accomplice of criminals. The assassination of Giulio Regeni represents for us Italians ua bloody wound and an insult“I would have expected from President Macron a gesture of understanding, if not brotherhood, also on behalf of that Europe that, together, we are striving to build.”