The crimes that may change the law in Romania

Romanian NGOs want femicide to be legally recognized as a distinct crime.

Roxana Vasile, 26.11.2025, 14:00

In 2025, in approximately ten months (January-November) 51 cases of femicide have been reported in Romania. Statistically, this means that almost every week at least one woman was killed, most often by her partner. The latest such murder took place in Teleorman County. A 25-year-old young mother of three was killed by her former husband in front of the church. The violent act was recorded by surveillance cameras in the area. She was stabbed 15 times, in front of her three-year-old. Although a provisional restraining order had been issued against the perpetrator for having previously beaten, abducted and raped the woman, the police allegedly let him walk free. The police claim that the killing occurred because the woman had refused the installation of an electronic monitoring device, a bracelet that would have alerted authorities if the aggressor ever came near her. According to official data, over 11,000 provisional restraining orders have been issued since early 2025, but nearly 4,000 of them have been violated by aggressors.

Experts in the field warn that responsibility cannot be placed on the shoulders of victims. The state must provide real protection and information services. Violence against women is insufficiently sanctioned or even turned into a context for victim-blaming, NGOs say. As a result, they demand clear-cut actions to prevent domestic violence. First and foremost, femicide must be recognized as a distinct form of crime – the killing of a woman for gender-related reasons, that is, a murder committed simply because the victim is a woman.

Countries such as Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Turkey or Macedonia recognize femicide in their legislation, while in Italy this crime is punishable by life imprisonment. Sadly, the same cannot of said of Romania.

In early November, the Justice Ministry put up for public consultation a bill based on which murder committed for gender-related reasons would be punishable, including with life imprisonment, as announced by Justice Minister Radu Marinescu. At the same time, Parliament is seeking to explicitly and distinctly enshrine in Romanian criminal law the incrimination of femicide, the Romanian official added.

Signed by more than 250 MPs from the ruling coalition (made up of PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR), the bill for preventing and combating femicide provides for harsher penalties for aggressors and proposes the establishment of a National Observer for the Analysis and Prevention of Murders. This body will draft annual reports on victims, assaults and causes, for a better understanding and combating of the phenomenon, according to the president of the Special Parliamentary Committee on the Prevention, Combating and Sanctioning of Domestic Violence, PNL senator Alina Gorghiu:

“The law obliges the police, prosecutors and forensic medical staff to collect and publish data about all such cases”.

The bill also provides for significantly tougher penalties, especially if the acts of violence or the crimes are committed in front of a child. Save Romania Union senator Simona Spătaru explains:

“The sentences for the killing may amount to life in prison, because we’ve seen many cases when the perpetrators are released from prison in 3 to 5 years and then they kill another woman, and then another.”

The bill also considers the education of children in school, in order to preempt abusive behaviour. Social Democrat senator Victoria Stoiciu:

“Femicide comes after a chain of acts of aggression against women, and that chain must be broken before it leads to murder.”

While senator Éva Csép, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, urges responsible institutions to respond promptly to all requests made by the women who are subject to abuse:

“We cannot talk about a Romania without domestic violence if people, if the citizens do not trust the state institutions, if we do not invest more in prevention, if we do not invest in education.”

The signatories of the document requested that the bill be debated as part of an emergency procedure. More than 50 NGOs also unanimously urged Parliament to speed up the process of passing the bill on preventing and combating femicide, as well as the violence that precedes it. ʺThis year, more than ever, the entire society has witnessed the failure of the authorities when it comes to women’s safety. In the cases of femicide, there was a history of violence, sometimes known to the authorities or to the community, and these murders could have been preventedʺ, the NGOs said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, civil society is adopting preventive measures that are within its reach. For example, in Cluj-Napoca, more and more bars and clubs are adopting the so-called “Angel Shot” code, which is meant to help women and girls who feel in danger on a night out. Ordering a drink supposedly called ʺAngel Shotʺ, the woman who feels unsafe can use this code name to convey their unease to the bar staff of the bar. The priority of the bar is to make sure the person who feels in danger is escorted out of the bar, and then, either be helped to call a taxi, or, in cases of serious violence, the police would be called. The most important thing is that the victim is never left alone. (VP&CM)