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

ROME (AP) — 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.

Authorities say Giulia Cecchettin’s 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.

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.

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.

The woman’s 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’s verdict.

Cecchettin’s 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.

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.

Cecchettin’s murder sparked outrage across the nation because of the brutality of the killing and the age of both the alleged killer and the victim.

Turetta wasn’t present at Monday’s hearing, but his lawyer Giovanni Caruso told reporters that he would likely make court appearances in the future.

Several of Cecchettin’s 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.

Cecchettin’s father, Gino, said on Monday that he wasn't seeking “any revenge” and was fully confident in the court's decision.

At his daughter's funeral last December, he had called for men to be “agents of change” in a culture that “undervalues the lives of women,’’ urging them “not to turn away in front of signs of violence, even the slightest.”

Giulia’s 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.