Giulia Cecchettin’s murder has led to an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger
New Delhi:
The murder of an Italian student, allegedly by her possessive ex-boyfriend, has shocked the nation and sparked a conversation on the issue of violence against women.
The body of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old from a small town near Venice, was found dumped near a lake, with multiple stab wounds. She had been missing for a week after going out with her former partner Filippo Turetta.
The manhunt was front-page news in Italy for days. Cecchettin was just days away from receiving her degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Padua.
Cecchettin’s sister said the couple had broken up but had gone shopping together to buy a dress for her November 16 graduation ceremony before they disappeared.
CCTV footage presented by the public prosecutor in court showed the final moments of her life. Turetta, 22, can be seen beating his former partner in a car park close to her house.
She tried to escape, but prosecutors say he put duct tape on her mouth, forced her into his car, and drove to an industrial area, where he attacked her again. Turetta was arrested on a motorway in eastern Germany in a broken-down car late on Saturday, and is awaiting extradition.
This was the latest femicide case recorded this year in Italy, where dozens of women have been killed at the hands of their husbands or partners. As of November 24, 106 women have been killed this year in Italy, including 55 by their partner or former partner, interior ministry figures show, double the number in the year-ago period.
Giulia Cecchettin’s murder has led to an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger, with several protests being held across the country.
Protesters hold a banner reading ‘If tomorrow it’s me, if tomorrow I don’t come back, sisters, destroy everything!’.
Days after the murder came to light, Italian lawmakers unanimously backed a raft of measures to clamp down on violence against women. The upper house Senate passed the bill proposed by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni by 157-to-0, a rare show of unity between the ruling parties and the opposition.
The new law expands protections for women at risk to prevent more serious violence and stem the wave of femicides.
“Every single woman killed because she is ‘guilty’ of being free is an aberration that cannot be tolerated and that pushes me to continue on the path taken to stop this barbarism,” said Meloni, Italy’s first woman prime minister.
