The European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) on Thursday found Italy guilty of failing to act promptly
after a woman filed a complaint against her ex-partner saying he
had repeatedly abused and stalked her.
In the sentence, the ECHR expressed concern over the combined
effect of the Italian judicial system's statute of limitations
and the delay in proceedings that have led to many domestic
abuse cases being shelved.
The woman filed a complaint to the European court in 2019.
She had reported her partner's abuse to the Italian authorities
in 2009.
The Strasbourg-based court highlighted in the sentence that it
took three months for the woman's criminal complaint to be
registered by the Italian authorities and that her former
partner "was subsequently indicted four years after the
presentation of the complaint" while the "the sentence of first
instance was issued six years later".
Moreover, the ECHR said, "16 months later, an appeals court
acquitted the man of actions committed before February 25 2009,
because the law providing for the abuse charge had not come into
effect yet, and said the statute of limitations for the criminal
charges pressed against him after that date had expired".
The ECHR stressed it had already determined that States must act
promptly in abuse cases against woman, noting it was "not
convinced that in the specific case authorities showed real
willingness to guarantee that the former partner would be held
accountable for his actions".
On the contrary, the court said it believes national courts did
not fulfil their obligation to ensure that the man charged with
abusing and threatening his former partner "went through a
speedy trial and could not benefit from the statute of
limitations", noting that authorities had not responded
adequately given the "gravity" of the offenses, giving the man
"total impunity".
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