Messina – Disappointment and bitterness in Favara after the ruling of the Court of Cassation on the life sentence given to Antonio De Pace for the femicide of Lorena Quaranta, the young woman from the Agrigento area killed by her partner in their home in Furci Siculo on 31 March 2020.
“Disappointment and bitterness also and above all for Lorena’s parents and other family members – says the lawyer Giuseppe Beard – which adds to their unbridgeable pain.” “It is a provision that must be explored and respected – comments the lawyer – but which, after a double confirmation, discredits the work of two Assize Courts”.
Worrying signal on the subject of feminicide, from Lorena to Alessandra
There is also a lot of bitterness in Messina, where Lorena’s tragedy has shaken the university world, the many friends and associations that deal in particular with women victims of violence, all alongside family members along the judicial process. No official comments from almost all the groups involved as civil parties in the trial and from those who in various capacities followed the matter, within which, however, a reflection was opened, here too veiled by bitterness at the Supreme Court’s ruling . For everyone it is a bad signal on the subject of femicide, especially if associated with the troubled procedural event that characterized the trial for the murder of Alessandra Musarra.
Cedav: “Not very evolved judicial system”
Instead, the women’s anti-violence center of Messina speaks, as a civil party in the trial for the femicide of the young specialist from Favara. “Despite the fact that there is more and more talk about combating gender violence, despite women being invited to report and not to be afraid, despite the awareness campaigns throughout the territory by the anti-violence centres, but also by the government and the forces of order, crimes of mistreatment, sexual violence and feminicide continue to fill the pages of the newspapers. But then, at the end of it all, after the entire system has been moved and efforts have been made to eradicate these behaviors which are been recognized as violations of human rights, we find ourselves, once again, having to deal with cultural legacies and stereotypes that justify and support chauvinist and patriarchal behavior”. comments President Maria Gianquinto.
“The seriousness of femicide is not recognised”
“I don’t believe that the reasons given to justify this cancellation with postponement for the re-evaluation of the generic circumstances do justice. It is just yet another sign of a judicial system that is still not very evolved and receptive to all the requests that come not only from civil society, or from anti-violence centres, but also from community and international directives. Until we recognize the meaning and gravity that femicide brings with it, we will find ourselves faced with unacceptable motivations and, I dare say, humiliating reductions in sentences. Humiliating for women, for family members and for all civil society. We just have to continue to believe in the importance of our presence in the territories and insist with more determination in our daily commitment alongside all women victims of male violence”, concludes the representative of the historic Messina Center bitterly.
The ruling of the Supreme Court: assessable mitigating factors
The first section of the Supreme Court of Cassation asked the judges of second instance to review the sentence of Antonio De Pace, evaluating the possibility of granting generic mitigating circumstances. The nurse from the Vibo area was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, a verdict confirmed last July. If granted, De Pace could avoid life in prison. It will now be the Court of Assizes of Appeal in a different composition that will deal with the trial again.
