The grisly murders of three women in Italy in the space of a week, including one who was burnt to death, have led the government to call crisis talks to help prevent violence against women.
The government has now earmarked €12 million for a plan to combat violence against women and an additional €13m is being set aside to fight human trafficking, a government spokesman told the Telegraph.
A special cabinet meeting has been called for next month to map out how the money is to be spent.
In Tuscany, hundreds of protesters donned red dresses and called for action on Saturday in memory of Vania Vannucchi, the 46-year-old mother of two and nurse from Lucca who was burned alive Tuesday by a colleague she had dated.
“We must know how to say no to hate,” the Archibishop of Lucca told mourners at Ms Vannucchi's funeral.
The day after Ms Vannucchi was doused with flammable liquid and set alight behind the hospital where she worked, 59-year-old Rosaria Lentini was stabbed to death in Campania by her husband, who turned himself in to the local police station still carrying the bloody weapon.
“As a man I struggle to see what could make you employ such brutality . . . behind supposed emotions such as love,” Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said on his Facebook page after the two mid-week murders.
“I hope they don’t use these excuses anymore . . . They are just squalid criminals and disgusting murderers.”
On Friday, the body of 47-year-old Barbara Fontana was found with more than 30 stab wounds in a hotel near Bologna. Investigators said Ms. Fontana, who worked part-time in notary’s office by day but secretly as an escort under a different name by night, was drugged and murdered in a sadistic ritual.
All three suspects in this week’s killings were arrested on murder charges.
The murders have left the country reeling, with many saying a law targeting violence against women that was passed in 2013 had failed.
Though the perpetrators may face stiffer sanctions thanks to the law, the legislation has failed to prevent 77 deaths so far in 2016.
“Crimes of passion” have traditionally been treated less harshly in Italy, where sentencing discounts for such murders were only outlawed in 1981.
“The 2013 femicide law is not being fully applied,” said journalist Rossella Diaz, who authored a book on the subject. “There is a grave lack of gender-related education and training among law enforcement and health professionals, and too many cuts in funding for shelters and anti-violence centers.”
The spate of killings prompted the minister in charge of equal in the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi to call a special cabinet meeting in September to push ahead with the anti-violence plan.
“We cannot grow accustomed to these tragic deaths,” Minister for Constitutional Reform Maria Elena Boschi said. “It is a battle we can win if we all assume responsibility, including men. ”
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