Italian parliamentarians 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, the BBC reports.
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.
The landmark vote comes two years after the murder of Giulia Cecchettin by her ex-boyfriend, a crime which the BBC says shocked the nation.
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.
The BBC notes that the killing was headline news until Turetta was caught, but that 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.
From now on, Italy will record every murder of a woman that is motivated by her gender as femicide.
[Image: By governo.it, CC BY 3.0 it, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130399634]