JThe day after learning that her sister Julia had died, Elena Cecchettin was interviewed live on TV outside her family home in Vigonovo, a small town near Venice. Behind her, a flower stand was tied to the railing and a torchlight procession was taking place, attended by thousands of well-wishers. But Elena wasn't looking for pity. “Don’t give Julia a moment’s silence and burn everything to the ground.” she said. “We need a cultural revolution to put an end to Julia's case.”
On November 18, 2023, 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin became a player for the Italian national team. 105th place Victim of a murder case that year. Her body, with more than 70 stab wounds, was found wrapped in a black plastic bag in a ditch near a lake north of Venice. Her ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, confessed to killing the biomedical engineering student, who was just days away from graduating.
Prosecutors on Monday asked Turetta to: life sentence Voluntary Manslaughter – Aggravated by Premeditation – Kidnapping, Cruelty, Stalking, Concealment of Corpse. The verdict is scheduled to be handed down on December 3rd.
Cecchettin may have remained the unsung face of many – her case, like most other Italian murders, received only a few inches of newspaper coverage. However, Elena's eloquent appeal, which included condemnation of a “patriarchal society steeped in rape culture,” shook the public's conscience, and thousands of people staged protests across the country.
“I don't know where that courage came from,” Elena said in an interview with the Guardian. “All I know is that I needed to remember Julia and use a visible moment to convey how things are. Too many people feel that they can have power over other people's lives, justified by such factors.
Even after a year, the feeling is still raw. Since Julia 106 other women I was killed by a man. In most cases, the suspect was a current or former partner. recently, 13-year-old girl dies After falling from a balcony, he was allegedly shoved by a 15-year-old boy, who was later arrested.
More than 150,000 people in Rome held banners calling for “disarm the patriarchy” on Saturday as they took part in an annual protest against violence against women. Machismo runs deep in Italian society, they say.
Their anger is further amplified by Giorgia Meloni's far-right government's inability to fully grasp the issue, a failure that last week saw Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara argue that patriarchy is a problem. It became clear that. didn't exist anymore. The comments were made during the parliamentary launch of the Julia Cecchettin Foundation, which was founded by her father Gino. Valditara also linked the rise in sexual violence against women to illegal immigration, something Meloni later echoed.
Elena, 25, criticized the minister's comments on social media, saying: “Julia was killed by a respectable white Italian man,” while asking: “What is the government doing to prevent violence?” he asked.
Elena, who is studying for a master's degree in microbiology at the University of Vienna, has used interviews and social media platforms to try to change the narrative surrounding the murder.
The morning after Julia disappeared, she woke up early to finish an assignment that was due that day. It was around 8 a.m. when her brother David called her and asked if she had heard from her sister, who had gone to the mall with Turetta the night before to buy a dress for her graduation.
“When I found out he was with Julia, I told my brother to call the police right away,” Elena said. “I was scared of Filippo and felt like I would never see him again.”
A roadside surveillance camera captured Turreta punching Giulia as she tried to flee, before being pushed back into the car. Turetta was arrested in Germany on the day her body was discovered. he spoke at the Venetian court Last month, he planned to kidnap and kill Julia after she refused to get back together, then commit suicide. He said he made a “to-do” list.
The relationship lasted about a year before Julia broke up in August 2023. Elena told the Guardian that her “control and manipulation” began early on, with bouts of jealousy triggered when Julia told her she was meeting an old high school boyfriend. . He had never been physically violent, she added, but like many female murderers, Turetta could not accept that the relationship was over. He allegedly threatened to commit suicide.
“Julia didn't want to feel responsible for Julia's suicide, even though it wasn't her fault,” Elena said. “She was manipulated and tended to trivialize the problem. This is why psychological abuse is underdiagnosed. Victims may not even recognize themselves as victims. And as a society, we always tend to blame the victim.”
After newsletter promotion
When the tragedy was being talked about on TV, Elena heard people blaming Julia. “They asked, 'Why didn't she save herself?'” Filippo, on the other hand, was portrayed as a good boy who couldn't hurt a fly. I thought this was unreasonable. The question that should have been asked was, “Why didn't he get an education?” How did he get to this point? ”
The Julia Cecchettin Foundation's main mission is “education to bring about change,” and her father said last week that “gender violence is not just an individual problem, it's a collective failure.”
The victim's family is calling for the introduction of sexuality and emotional education in schools. “It has to start with the kids,” Elena said.
Since the founding of the foundation, the Cecchettin family has been inundated with calls and messages from women and their relatives who are “at risk.”
Elena said this was a further sign of “terrible systemic gaps”, noting that funding for women's shelters had been cut over the past decade. “We want to help you, but unfortunately we don't have the tools. Basically, self-funded associations carry out the work. He doesn't seem to care.”
Julia dreamed of becoming an illustrator of children's books. “She was a very good person, with very little malice, but not in the simplest sense. She always tried to see the good in everything and was positive about the future,” Elena said. .
Elena also believes in the power of society to bring about change. “But we all need to take responsibility for solving the problem, and that means achieving zero pesticides.” Until then, “Burn it all for Julia.”
