International Courant
Athens, Greece – On the night of April 1, 28-year-old Kyriaki Griva’s ex-partner stabbed her to loss of life exterior a police station in northern Athens.
She was the fifth girl murdered by an ex or accomplice in Greece this yr.
Griva had simply left her native police station, which she visited out of worry of her ex-boyfriend, who was hanging round her home.
She had beforehand made formal complaints in opposition to him however declined to take action on this event. Though her reasoning just isn’t clear, victims of home violence typically select to not file a proper grievance as a result of they’re scared of the results, worry the method shall be initiated, and have little belief in businesses designed to to offer security.
Griva requested a police escort dwelling that night. She was referred to a police hotline, which she known as. An operator reportedly advised her that “patrol vehicles will not be a taxi service.”
Griva was then murdered shortly afterwards close to Agioi Anargyroi station.
The 39-year-old suspect was jailed awaiting trial; he’s reportedly being monitored in a psychiatric ward.
In response to the killing, Civil Safety Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis promised an in-depth investigation and expressed help for the inclusion of the time period femicide in Greece’s penal code – a degree lengthy pushed by campaigners – though he insisted added that this might ultimately be the case. to the Ministry of Justice.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis refuted criticism of his police minister, saying: “The fault can not at all times be on the prime when one thing goes improper within the state,” however acknowledged the federal government wanted to do extra.
In the meantime, legal professionals representing Griva’s household have since known as for the officers who spoke to Griva that day to be investigated for attainable negligence and manslaughter.
A lady holds an indication studying ‘We’re not all right here, the murdered are lacking’ throughout protests in opposition to femicides in Athens (Anna Pantelia/Al Jazeera)
Charities and victims’ households have lengthy accused Greek authorities of not taking home violence critically sufficient.
In December 2023, the identical month, a lady was shot lifeless by her accomplice in her mom’s dwelling on Salamina Island after she reported him to the police. The work of a Greek artist who alluded to femicide was faraway from the Greek consulate in New York.
A authorities spokesman stated Georgia Lale’s ‘Neighbourhood Guilt’, which depicts the Greek flag with pink sheets, was eliminated as a result of the consulate area should stay impartial and ‘there are some issues which can be particularly sacred, a of that’s our flag’. .
Lale stated in response that they have been “saddened” that their work had been misinterpreted.
“Victims of femicide are heroes of the battle for freedom and life in Greece and internationally,” they stated.
Katerina Kotti, Dora’s mom, sits in the lounge of the household dwelling in Rhodes (Anna Pantelia/Al Jazeera)
Katerina Kotti, the mom of 31-year-old Dora Zacharia, who was murdered by her accomplice on the island of Rhodes in September 2021, advised Al Jazeera that she felt “anger, rage and disappointment” on the information of every new femicide. .
Zechariah was murdered exterior her mother and father’ dwelling.
“This could’t occur once more, what number of instances will this proceed to occur?” Kotti requested. “My soul bleeds that one other lady who was filled with desires, in love with life, has been misplaced, one other household has misplaced the bottom underneath their toes and should battle to place the items again collectively, that is very troublesome to to do, they are going to by no means recover from the lack of their baby.”
Talking about Griva’s homicide exterior a police station, she stated: “In fact, we must always not leap to conclusions or generalize too rapidly, however the authorities ought to pay extra consideration and assess every case extra rigorously.”
Kotti stated that boys specifically have to be taught from an early age that “they haven’t any proper to anybody and that no means no, nobody belongs to anybody else.”
Protests and vigils have sprung up throughout Greece in current weeks, with some carrying protest banners bearing the alleged phrases of the police officer earlier than Griva was killed: “The patrol automotive just isn’t a taxi.”
There has additionally been a rise in reporting of home violence instances – and arrests.
Anna Vouyioukas, a social scientist, gender equality professional and advocate at Diotima, a middle for gender rights and equality in Greece, advised Al Jazeera that it was “clear that femicides might be the results of institutional violence, because the state has no ensures for girls, and doesn’t create situations for security locally, at dwelling, at work, in public areas and even within the speedy neighborhood of a police station.”
Vouyioukas stated that regardless of a spike in home violence instances, as proven by the police’s personal information, “gender-related crimes will not be taken critically by regulation enforcement authorities, no less than not in all instances.”
She stated the variety of feminine victims of home violence elevated by nearly 73 p.c between 2020 and 2021, and between 2021 and 2022 there was a 37 p.c enhance.
Vouyioukas urged Greece to legally acknowledge femicide in its prison code, which she stated would “make the phenomenon seen and convey its social and gender dimensions to the fore.”
“It’s a crime dedicated on the idea of gender discrimination and unequal energy relations,” she stated, whereas additionally calling for additional help for survivors and extra coaching for cops.
Kotti is a part of a bunch of grieving households who’ve misplaced feminine family to home violence.
They want to see life sentences for convicts who haven’t any prospect of launch.
“We’ve got to inform it like it’s,” she stated. “Those that have been given life sentences are the ladies themselves after which the households who’re pressured to reside of their absence.”
A framed picture of Dora subsequent to a wake lamp, a standard Greek memorial apply for the lifeless (Anna Pantelia/Al Jazeera)
A Greek girl was afraid of her ex-partner. He killed her exterior a police station | Ladies
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