Italy holds trial into killing of a woman that shocked the country and sparked debate over femicide

Associated Press

ROME (AP) — The trial into the brutal killing of a 22-year-old woman has started in Italy. The case shocked the country and fueled debate over the cultural roots of surging gender-based violence. Authorities say Giulia Cecchettin’s 22-year-old ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta has confessed to fatally stabbing her in Fosso near Venice on Nov. 11, 2023. She was killed just days before she was due to graduate with a biomedical engineering degree. Turetta now faces charges including voluntary manslaughter, aggravated by premeditation and kidnapping and risks life imprisonment. Prosecutors say Turetta couldn’t handle it when Cecchettin broke up with him, and that he lured Cecchettin to take one last shopping trip with him and eat together before killing her.