Italy student murdered by ex-boyfriend: Stab wounds, body thrown near lake

The murder of an Italian student, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, has sparked a conversation in the country on the issue of violence against women. A 22-year-old student named Giulia Cecchettin was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend and her dead body with multiple stab wounds was found near a lake north of Venice.

A 22-year-old student named Giulia Cecchettin was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend and her dead body with multiple stab wounds was found near a lake north of Venice.(X(formerly Twitter))

Giulia Cecchettin was a student of biomedical engineering at the University of Padua. She had been missing for nearly a week and a massive search operation was on to find her. Before her disappearance, CCTV cameras captured her former boyfriend Filippo Turetta hitting her. Cecchettin’s sister revealed that the former couple had split but went for shopping together to buy a dress for the girl for her graduation ceremony.

Filippo Turetta was arrested in Germany and the court allowed his extradition to Italy where he will be investigated further.

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According to a report by the Guardian, one women is killed every three days in Italy. The report quoted Cristina Gamberi, a research fellow at the University of Bologna who highlighted that 106 women had been killed in Italy so far this year. Majority of the killings involved women’s partners or ex-partners.

Cristina Gamberi pointed out how Giulia Cecchettin’s sister Elena is spearheading the fight for justice which has resonated with the younger generation, leading to widespread outrage over the latest murder.

“She’s[Elena] fighting back with a very strong determination and anger. And I do think she’s giving voice to a new collective awareness that is really widespread among the younger generation,” said Cristina Gamberi.

In Italy, protests and demonstrations are expected to happen in the wake of Giulia Cecchettin’s gruesome murder while Italy has passed a bill to protect women and prevent increasing femicides in the country.

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni said, “Every single woman killed because she is ‘guilty’ of being free is an aberration that cannot be tolerated and that pushes me to continue on the path taken to stop this barbarism.”