Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Student’s slaying sparks protest
Ex-boyfriend in custody, extradited from Germany
ROME — Tens of thousands took to the streets of Italy’s main cities on Saturday to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, just as an Italian man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend was extradited from Germany.
The slaying of 22-year-old university student Giulia Cecchettin, allegedly at the hands of her former boyfriend, sparked outrage across Italy, where on average one woman is killed every three days.
Suspect Filippo Turetta, 21, landed at the Venice airport around mid-morning on Saturday. He was transferred to a prison in the northern city of Verona to face questions in the investigation into Cecchettin’s death, Italian media reported.
Cecchettin had disappeared after meeting Turetta for a burger at a shopping mall near Venice, just days before she was to receive her degree in biomedical engineering. The case gripped Italy.
Her body was found on Nov. 18 — covered by black plastic bags in a ditch near a lake in the foothills of the Alps. Turetta was arrested the following day in Germany.
Cecchettin’s killing has sparked an unprecedented wave of grief and anger in Italy, where many women say patriarchal attitudes are still entrenched.
Data from the Italian Interior Ministry show that 106 women have so far been killed in Italy this year, 55 of them allegedly by a partner or former partner.
Italy’s RAI state TV reported that in the days since Cecchettin’s body was found, calls to a national hotline for women fearing for their safety at the hands of men have jumped from some 200 to 400 a day — including from parents of young women.
“Rome has been invaded … we are 500,000,” said activists from Non Una Di Meno (Not one less), the anti-violence feminist association that organized the rally in the capital.