CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's parliament says it regrets the decision of Italy's lower house to break parliamentary ties over the lack of progress in investigations related to the torture and killing of an Italian researcher nearly three years ago.

In a Friday statement, Parliament said it was "surprised" by the Italian chamber's "unilateral" decision and called for the non-politicization of legal issues.

Italy has been pressing Cairo for years to identify and prosecute those responsible for the 2016 killing of Giulio Regeni. Researching labor unions in Egypt at the time, Regeni's body was found bearing marks of torture.

Italian media says prosecutors in Rome are set to launch an investigation into seven Egyptian secret service members they suspect were involved in Regeni's abduction and murder. Egypt has long denied its authorities were involved.