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ROME (AP) \u2014 The trial into the brutal killing of a 22-year-old woman started in Italy on Monday, in a case that shocked the country and fueled debate over the cultural roots of surging gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
Authorities say Giulia Cecchettin\u2019s ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, also 22, has confessed to fatally stabbing her in Fosso, near Venice, on Nov. 11, 2023, just days before she was due to graduate with a biomedical engineering degree.<\/p>\n
He now faces charges including voluntary manslaughter, aggravated by premeditation and kidnapping, and risks life imprisonment. A verdict is expected in early December, local media reported.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The woman\u2019s body, with more than 20 stab wounds, was found at the bottom of a ditch. Turetta fled to Germany, was caught and is now in prison awaiting for the Venice court\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n
Cecchettin\u2019s case has grabbed headlines in Italy and worldwide, shedding a new light over the problem of femicide, which has become worryingly common across the Italian peninsula.<\/p>\n
In 2023 alone, 120 women were killed in Italy and more than half of them died at the hands of their partners or former partners.<\/p>\n
Cecchettin\u2019s murder sparked outrage across the nation because of the brutality of the killing and the age of both the alleged killer and the victim.<\/p>\n
Turetta wasn\u2019t present at Monday\u2019s hearing, but his lawyer Giovanni Caruso told reporters that he would likely make court appearances in the future.<\/p>\n
Several of Cecchettin\u2019s relatives have requested to be admitted as civil plaintiffs in the trial and her family has claimed about 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in damages.<\/p>\n
Cecchettin\u2019s father, Gino, said on Monday that he wasn’t seeking \u201cany revenge\u201d and was fully confident in the court’s decision.<\/p>\n
At his daughter’s funeral last December, he had called for men to be \u201cagents of change\u201d in a culture that \u201cundervalues the lives of women,\u2019\u2019 urging them \u201cnot to turn away in front of signs of violence, even the slightest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giulia\u2019s sister, Elena, has repeatedly pointed at a cultural factor in her killing and other femicide cases in Italy, blaming a patriarchal society in which male violence and control has long been accepted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n