10 hours agoShareSaveSarah RainsfordSouthern and Eastern Europe correspondent , RomeShareSaveCorbis via Getty ImagesDeputies in the Italian parliament have voted unanimously to introduce the crime of femicide – the murder of a woman, motivated by gender – as a distinct law to be punished with a life sentence. In a symbolic move, the bill was approved on the day dedicated to the elimination of violence against women worldwide.The idea of a law on femicide had been discussed in Italy before but the murder of Giulia Cecchettin by her ex-boyfriend was a tragedy that shocked the country into action.In late November 2023, the 22-year-old was stabbed to death by Filippo Turetta, who then wrapped her body in bags and dumped it by a lakeside.AFP via Getty ImagesThe killing was headline news until he was caught, but it was the powerful response of Giulia’s sister, Elena, that has endured.The murderer was not a monster, she said, but the “healthy son” of a deeply patriarchal society. They were words that brought crowds out across Italy demanding change.Two years on, MPs have voted for a law on femicide after a long and passionately debated session of parliament. It makes Italy one of very few places to categorise femicide as a distinct crime.Introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the law was backed by her own hard-right government as well as opposition MPs. Many wore red ribbons or red jackets to remember the victims of violence.From now on, Italy will record every murder of a woman that is motivated by her gender as femicide.”Femicides will be classified, they will be studied in their real context, they will exist,” Judge Paola di Nicola, one of the authors of the new law, said of its significance. She was part of an expert commission that examined 211 recent murders of women for common characteristics, then drafted the femicide law.”Talking of such crimes as rooted in exasperated love or strong jealousy is a distortion – that uses romantic, culturally acceptable terms,” the judge argues, surrounded by her research at her home in Rome.”This law means we will be the first in Europe to reveal the real motivation of the perpetrators, which is hierarchy and power.”Italy will now join Cyprus, Malta and Croatia as EU member states that have introduced a legal definition of femicide into their criminal codes. There is no agreed worldwide definition of femicide, which makes it hard to count and compare statistics.The Italian law will apply to murders which are “an act of hatred, discrimination, domination, control, or subjugation of a woman as a woman”, or that occur when she breaks off a relationship or to “limit her individual freedoms.”The latest police data in Italy shows a slight fall in the number of women killed last year to 116, with 106 said to be motivated by gender. In future, such cases would be recorded separately and trigger an automatic life sentence, meant as a deterrent.Gino Cecchettin isn’t sure such a law would have saved his daughter: her killer was sent to prison for life in any case.But he does think defining and discussing the problem is important.”Before, many people especially from the centre and extreme right didn’t want to hear the word femicide,” Mr Cecchettin told the BBC. “Now this is a world where we can speak about it. That’s a little step, but it’s a step.”His own focus is on education, not legislation.After Giulia’s murder, her father describes taking “a very intense look into what was happening around me” then deciding to create a foundation in her name devoted to preventing others suffering as his family have. “I wanted to understand what had come to [Filippo’s] mind,” Gino Cecchettin explained. “He was a student, a beloved son. Like a normal guy.”What he found, he says, was a society full of stereotypes about women and notions of male superiority, and young men struggling to manage their emotions. His daughter’s ex-boyfriend had stabbed her to death in a premeditated attack when she refused to get back together with him.Getty ImagesMr Cecchettin now tours Italian schools and universities to talk to young pe …
