Mobilised against femicide

The justice ministry comes up with a bill that punishes femicide with life imprisonment

Mihai Pelin, 11.11.2025, 14:00

The Romanian justice ministry has posted for public review a bill under which gender-related murder would be punished with life imprisonment, the relevant minister Radu Marinescu announced. In a televised interview, he said there is a parallel parliamentary initiative to explicitly introduce femicide as a distinct crime in the Romanian criminal law. He mentioned, however, that the country already has legislation that must be enforced and that can prevent such cases.

The minister’s response comes after, on Saturday, another woman was killed by her husband, against whom she had a restraining order in place. He was at large, although the 25-year-old mother of three had repeatedly complained that she had been beaten, kidnapped and raped by her ex-partner. She had separated from her husband for two months, and when he stabbed her she was with her three-year-old son. The medical team that arrived at the scene failed to resuscitate her. Authorities later found the 42-year-old man who had tried to take his own life as well.

The shocking case took place in a village in southern Romania. The head of the Romanian Police, Benone Matei, announced that he had ordered a review of all domestic violence cases registered at national level. He called on victims of domestic violence to agree to the electronic monitoring of the aggressors.

A bill to curb femicide was submitted to Parliament in late October, following initiatives from all parliamentary parties. Victoria Stoiciu (PSD) said that support for such a bill is huge. The document was signed by 273 MPs, making it the draft legislation with the largest number of supporters in the history of the Romanian parliament since the 1990s.

In mid-October, some 3,000 people took to the streets in several cities across the country to call the authorities’ attention on the large number of women victims of violence, but also on the fact that dozens of women have been killed in Romania since the beginning of the year. At the same time, 18 embassies in Romania sent a joint statement to prevent gender-based violence.

Meanwhile, over 50 NGOs are asking Parliament to expedite the passing of the draft law on preventing and fighting femicide. “The state has an obligation to protect all citizens and to take timely steps to prevent the escalation of violence against women and domestic violence. But this year, more than ever, the entire society has witnessed the authorities’ failure to ensure the safety of women. In cases of femicide, there was a history of violence, sometimes known to the authorities or the community, and these cases could have been prevented,” reads the petition of these organisations. (AMP)