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Published on November 24th, 2023 1:40 p.m
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“For Giulia Cecchettin and all our sisters killed before her,” we can read on this sign placed at the gates of the University of Milan, Italy, on November 22, 2023. (PIERO CRUCIATTI / AFP)
The death of this 22-year-old student, whose body was found north of Venice last Saturday, is moving the peninsula. Her ex-boyfriend, suspected of killing her, is awaiting extradition after being arrested in Germany after a week on the run that left the country in suspense.
Italy is in shock after a new femicide. That of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old student who was missing for a week before being found dead in a ravine on Saturday November 18, 100 kilometers north of Venice. Filippo Turetta, the victim’s former companion, who also disappeared, was finally arrested in Germany near Leipzig last Saturday evening. This 22-year-old student and friend of Giulia Cecchettin is suspected of kidnapping and killing her. The investigation into the young woman’s death is making headlines in the Italian media. And this 106th femicide since the beginning of the year on the peninsula is triggering a wave of indignation that is shaking Italy, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
A crime of “incredible cruelty”
Last Saturday, a week after her disappearance, Giulia Cecchettin was found dead in a ravine near Lake Barcis, about a hundred kilometers north of Venice. His body suffered 26 stab wounds, according to the coroner’s report consulted by Corriere della Sera.
There is an international arrest warrant against Filippo Turetta, comrade and ex-boyfriend of Giulia Cecchettin, who has also been missing for a week. He was arrested by German police last Saturday evening. His car was stopped with its headlights off and low on fuel on the shoulder of a highway between Berlin and Munich near Leipzig, more than 1,000 kilometers from the crime scene.
When he was arrested, suspect Filippo Turetta told police: “I killed my girlfriend,” according to information obtained by Corriere della Sera. A knife is discovered in his pocket and bloodstains cover his clothing and the seats of his car.
According to Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the extradition of Filippo Turetta was the subject of an agreement. The investigation is now trying to reconstruct the night of November 11th to 12th in which Giulia Cecchetin was killed, relying in particular on video surveillance images. A 22-minute sequence of “incredible violence and savagery,” according to the investigating judge in charge of the investigation, Benedetta Vitolo.
The political unrest
The entire Italian political class is moved by this new femicide. In particular, the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, who responded to the discovery of the body of Giulia Cecchettin on Saturday November 19, most of the great fears came true. Killed. I feel immense sadness when I see the smiling photos of this young girl, and with the sadness also great anger.”
I did everything to spend these days in which Giulia lives. In our opinion, Purtroppo grew up poorer. Uccisa. Provo an infinite sadness in which we see the sorrows of this giovane ragazza and, in fact alla sadzza, of a great rabbi. Ringrazio le Forze…
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) November 19, 2023
Following the murder of the student, the Italian Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill “aimed at strengthening measures to protect women,” which had already been voted on in the lower house. The secretary of the Italian Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, opposition leader of Giorgia Meloni, wants to go further and calls for the adoption of a “law that introduces education for respect in all schools in the country,” because “oppression does not exist.” It is enough , if there is no prevention, she emphasizes. The toxic culture of patriarchy exists and will continue to exist and it is a collective responsibility to put an end to it, especially for men,” explains Elly Schlein.
The national echo and the angry youth
In an open letter published in Corriere della Sera on Monday, Giulia Cecchettin’s sister Elena rejects the customary minute’s silence ordered by the Italian Education Minister on Tuesday. On the contrary, she calls for “making noise,” “burning everything,” to denounce “the patriarchal society” that she blames for her sister’s death.
“Monsters are not sick, they are healthy children of the patriarchy, of rape culture.” […] Femicide is state murder because the state does not protect us. Femicide is not a crime of passion, but a crime of power.”
Elena, Giulia Cecchettin’s sister
in a column in the “Corriere della Sera”
High school students, students and feminist movements followed the call of the victim’s sister and announced that they would not take part in the tribute on Tuesday. A part of the transalpine youth also denounces the rape culture and the silence about femicides in Italy. Since last weekend several meetings have taken place, particularly in Padua, where Giulia Cecchettin and Filippo Turetta studied. The young woman was due to receive her diploma as a biomedical engineer these days. And the mobilization will continue, on Saturday, November 25th, a large demonstration is planned in Rome to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.