Lhe massacre of women continues in our country with terrible frequency. The latest victim is Vera Schiopu, a 25-year-old Moldovan girl, killed by her partner and a friend, who attempted to fake a suicide. But only in the last week have there been many cases in the news and just as many cases that border on tragedy every day. Only in Veneto, in Rovigo yesterday a man attempted to stab his ex-partner to death, in Vicenza as many as three women, one of whom was pregnant, were beaten to death by their partner. At the moment there are 75 femicides that took place in Italy in 2023 and politics now seems to finally want to make up for lost time with a bipartisan front for a law on feminicidesstopped for too many months.
The latest case in Catania
The news pages are unfortunately forced to update with one dramatic frequency the bulletin of the victims of feminicide. The last of these events occurred a few days ago in Ramacca, in the Catania area. Vera Schiopu, 25 years old from Moldova, was found hanged on Saturday evening in a semi-ruined farmhouse next to the one where she lived.
Immediately the investigators doubted that it was a suicide, given the presence of some details that are difficult to refer to such a gesture. Among these are some abrasions on the woman’s body, incompatible with suicide. Thus, a few hours after the discovery of her body, the arrest of two Romanian men was immediately triggered: the 31-year-old boyfriend and a 33-year-old friend. The victim’s boyfriend had even called 112 to report that the woman had taken her own life. The two – who pleaded innocent – are accused of complicity in murder.
The murder of Anna Scala, after she had denounced her ex-partner twice
A few days ago, on August 17, it was the murder of Anna Scala that shocked public opinion. The 56-year-old woman was stabbed by her ex as she left an apartment building in Piano di Sorrento. What causes further pain is the fact that Anna Scala had decided to report her ex Salvatore Ferraiuolo twice for persecution in the last month.
Despite this, however, no action had been taken against him. No restrictive measure has protected the woman who had decided to move from her mother to get away from her ex-partner (who in recent times had cut off the wheels of her car and split her teeth by slapping and punching her). The man confessed to killing her, hitting her from behind and throwing her in the trunk of her car.
The artistic installation on the gate of Porta S.Paolo station organized by the association “Tango Solidale delle Scarpe Rosse” on the occasion of the day against violence against women, during the Covid-19 emergency, in Rome, on November 25, 2020. Credit: ANSA/MASSIMO PERCOSSI
Giovanni De Gennaro, lawyer for the victim’s family, reiterated immediately after the woman’s funeral the seriousness of the total absence of measures against the murderer. «The precursory signals were all there. That she was in danger was now clear and, despite this, nothing was done to prevent that man from killing her. A precautionary measure, even just a bracelet, would have avoided this tragedy» he revealed toHANDLE.
“There is something to be done, to be corrected, in the management of the so-called “red code”: the sections of the public prosecutors that deal with this real national emergency must be strengthened and, above all, greater discretion must be given to those who investigate, to those in the area, to those who know the people involved».
When a law against femicides?
What emerges most reading stories like these is the need for a law that can immediately put an end to this tragic count. And the need to protect as much as possible every woman victim of violence, especially once she decides to report it.
In the last hours the majority has opened up to the opposition to speed up the process of the law against feminicides. The Minister for the family, the birth rate and equal opportunities Eugenia Rockella explained to The messenger that “the government has taken to heart” the drama of feminicides “for example increasing by a third the funds for the anti-violence plan and therefore also for the centers and shelters».
Roccella also explained: «We approved a very important bill in the Council of Ministers because I think it can really save lives. It is a provision that focuses heavily on prevention, strengthening precautionary measures, from warnings to electronic bracelets, providing for deferred flagrant arrest, setting rapid and stringent times for the judges to assess the risk and consequently for the adoption rapid precautionary measures”. And he concluded. «It’s a robust package that aims to break the cycle of violence at the earliest signs, before the irreparable happens».
Undersecretary of Justice Andrea Delmastro he then spoke to Republic, emphasizing the need for a rapid procedure. According to him, the Nordio-Piantedosi-Roccella bill «should not be transformed into a decree. If in Parliament the majority and the opposition recognize the urgency of the new measures, the commissions can approve them in 15 days, the whole process ends in two months. It can be law by Christmas if the majority and the opposition share the urgency ».
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