The family of Giulia Cecchettin is awaiting the sentence of the murderer in Italy

On Tuesday, a verdict is expected in the murder case that attacked Italy and sparked a debate on the issue of abuse of women.

Prosecutors asked that Filippo Turetta, 22, be sentenced to life in prison for stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin last November.

Over the past year, many details have emerged about the murder, creating a picture of a depressed young woman being abused by her ex-boyfriend who refused to accept the end of their relationship.

The case, which has gripped Italians, has thrust the concepts of femicide, male dominance and male violence into the headlines.

On November 11, 2023 Mr. Turetta took his ex-girlfriend Ms. Cecchettin, a 22-year-old veterinary engineering student from the province of Venice, to buy her a graduation gown.

Later that night, he stabbed her more than 70 times, leaving the student’s body under the drain, wrapped in plastic.

Then he disappeared. For a week, the Italians followed the trail to find this breathtaking couple. The discovery of Ms. Cecchettin’s body on November 18 was met with unprecedented grief. The next day, Mr Turetta was arrested in Germany. He readily admitted to killing Ms. Cecchettin and was extradited to Italy.

To raise awareness of the signs of relationship control, Ms. Cecchettin’s family recently shared a list she wrote a few months before her death, entitled “15 reasons to break up with her”.

In it, Ms Cecchettin said Mr Turetta insisted he had a “job” to help her learn, complained when he sent her fewer heart emojis than usual, didn’t want her to take them out with friends and needed him to text her all the time. .

“It was a normal sign of being with someone,” Giulia’s father Gino Cecchettin told the BBC. “He was depriving him of his place, or demanding that he be included regularly. He always needed to know everything he said to his friends or even his therapist.”

“Later we realized that he thought he was the one who caused her pain, he felt guilty about it,” he said.

In an 80-page statement written in prison with a hand like a child’s, Mr Turetta said that since Ms Cecchettin broke up with him he spends every day hoping to get back together with her. He wrote: “I did not feel that I could accept another result.

During his interrogation by the police, Mr Turetta confirmed that, on the night of his murder, Ms Cecchettin had just told him that he was very dependent and needy.

“I shouted and said it’s not right, that I need him,” said Mr Turetta, adding that he killed him after he was “very angry” when he tried to get out of the car.

“I was selfish and now I see it,” he wrote. “I didn’t think about how unfair it was for him and the promising and wonderful life he had before him.”

Mr Turetta’s lawyer, Giovanni Caruso, said his client should be spared an “inhuman and degrading” life sentence and be freed from allegations that the killing was premeditated.

“He’s not Pablo Escobar,” said Mr Caruso – a line of defense Giulia’s father told the BBC had made him feel “victimised again”.

Stories of femicide are often high on the news agenda in Italy, but Giulia Cecchettin’s story attracted unusual attention from the start. The week-long search for the young couple caught people off guard; the revelation that Ms. Cecchettin was murdered just days before her graduation moved them. More than 10,000 people attended his funeral.

But it was an interview full of tears and anger given by Giulia’s sister Elena, in which she said that Filippo Turetta was not a “monster” but a “healthy son of a patriarchal society” that sparked a heated debate about male violence and gender roles in the present. Italy.

Elena’s words echoed. Suddenly, patriarchy – a concept considered by many to be arcane or irrelevant – was widely discussed.

“If you are a man you are part of a system that teaches you that you are more important than women,” Mr Cecchettin told the BBC.

“It means that when you are in love, everything needs to go through you… so the patriarch will not be told: ‘I don’t love you anymore’, because it is against his sense of ownership.”

In November, at the launch of the foundation founded by Gino Cecchettin in memory of Giulia, the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara pointed out that the monarchy was no longer in Italy and said that the increase in gender violence was instead “related to the discrimination and distortions that come from illegal immigration”.

The comment sparked outrage. “Giulia was killed by a noble Italian man,” Elena Cecchettin answered to herself. “My father did something to stop the violence. What is the government doing?”

Since his daughter’s death, Gino Cecchettin has thrown himself headlong into the fight to teach young people how to handle emotions and relationships, visiting schools and telling students his daughter’s story.

She hopes that sharing Giulia’s voice and words can help others – like the voice message she sent to friends when she felt annoyed by Mr. Turetta is also full of guilt for his suicidal thoughts. He says: “I wish I could disappear.” “But I’m afraid he might hurt himself.”

Elisa Ercoli of Differenza Donna, a charity that fights gender-based violence, told the BBC that the messages have had a tangible impact, as her organization receives a high number of calls from parents who see similar behavior in their daughters. “We think that bruises are the problem, but mental violence is a problem in many cases,” he said.

The government department also said that the national anti-violence helpline received an increase in calls after Ms. Cecchettin’s murder, and that the number of calls is now 57% higher than last year.

But NGOs and opposition politicians are all demanding that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government take stronger measures to prevent and punish violence against women, such as “touching lessons” in schools.

“What the Cecchettin family is doing is a grain of sand compared to what the government can do,” said Francesca Ghio, a Genoa councilor who recently revealed publicly that she was raped at the age of 12 – she said this decision. the speech was inspired by the “power” of the Cecchettin family.

“They turn their pain into love and action. We cannot just stand still.”

As the 10-week trial drew to a close, Mr Cecchettin said he felt calm.

Remembering his “flawless daughter” who is now a surname, Mr Cecchettin said he thought there would be “before” and “after” Giulia’s murder.

But while Italy won the mark, his losses are incalculable. “I realized that I can’t turn back life and time,” he said, “and I realized that no one can bring Giulia back to me.”