Italy has registered 77 femicides since the start of the year, according to data released by the interior ministry on Tuesday. On Monday, the 78th victim was found in Rome.
The Interior Ministry released data on homicides today, with 225 homicides in Italy up to 3rd September. Of those, 77 are femicides.
The figure does not include the murder of a 52-year-old nurse whose body was found with stab founds in a Rome building on Monday. Sadly, that means the tally climbs to 78.
The woman’s ex-partner has been detained in relation to the case.
It said 61 of the 77 female victims were killed in the family/relationship sphere. Furthermore, 38 of them were killed by their current or former partner.
The ministry said the overall number of homicides was up by 5% on the 215 registered on the same period in 2022, but the number of femicides was down 5% from 81.
Anti-rapist protest at Venice Film Festival
With gang rapes prevalent in Italian news at the moment, an anti-rapist protest took place in Venice.
On Monday night, Venice saw a protest against directors Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson by a group of women accusing the world’s oldest film fest of “putting rapists in the limelight”.
Allen, 87, has long been the subject of unproven claims he raped his and Mia Farrow’s adoptive seven-year-old daughter Dylan. Polanski, 90, was convicted of the rape of a 13-year-old American girl in 1977. Luc Besson, 64, was cleared last year of an actress’s claim that he raped her in 2018.
Director Allen is presenting his first French language film, Coup de Chance (Stroke of Luck) in Venice. Meanwhile Chinatown and The Pianist auteur Polanski is presenting his latest, The Palace. Leon director Besson is premiering his latest film, Dogman. All are receiving mixed reviews.
The protest by the bare-breasted women took place as Allen was crossing the Red Carpet with his wife Soon-Yi Previn. Soon-Yi is another of Farrow’s daughters.
“Turn off the limelight on rapists,” shouted the women before staging a flash mob.
They distributed a leaflet saying, “This year. the Venice Cinema Biennale has chosen to give space to directors involved in cases of sexual violence against women, including minors.
“The excuses, aired by Show Director Alberto Barbera, follow the old script of the distinction between the man, responsible before the law, and the artist whose genius is never to be judged because superior and free from earthly responsibilities.
“You would never allow a parade on the Red Carpet of those who acted, to cite just the latest cases, in the rapes in Palermo, Caivano and Milan”.
The protesters also cited Italian actor and producer Luca Barbareschi. He recently said that many of the actresses who had denounced sexual abuse had done so to “get publicity for themselves”.
Court rules sexual violence victims credible years after offence
An Italian court has ruled reports by victims of sexual violence are to be considered credible even years after the alleged offence has taken place, Il Messaggero newspaper reported.
“The credibility of the victim of a crime of sexual violence is not undermined by the fact that many years have passed between the beginning of the unlawful act and the reporting of the facts,” ruled Perugia appeal court judges. The judges upheld the conviction of a man accused of raping his partner’s niece.
The young woman had filed a complaint six years after the alleged offence took place.
