Feminicide, final and unanimous green light for new crime: it will be punished with life imprisonment
The new Article 577-bis indicates a specific case of homicide, providing for life imprisonment for anyone who causes the death of a woman, committing the act, according to the documentation prepared by the Chamber's study service, as acts of discrimination, hatred or prevarication, or through acts of control, possession or domination over the victim as a woman
Key points
The feminicide enters the criminal code as an autonomous crime. It is broadly defined (as an act of discrimination or hatred towards a person because she is a woman or as a consequence of her refusal to have or continue an emotional relationship) and is punishable by life imprisonment. The House ratified the change. The House unanimously (237 yes votes) approved the bill introducing the crime of feminicide into the penal code.
In detail, the new Article 577-bis is written, indicating a specific case of homicide, providing for life imprisonment for anyone who causes the death of a woman, committing the act, according to the documentation prepared by the Chamber's study service, as acts of discrimination, hatred or prevarication, or through acts of control, possession or domination towards the victim as a woman. The bill includes and other regulatory measures to combat violence against women and to protect victims.
The ddl was approved by the Council of Ministers on 7 March 2025 and voted unanimously by the Senate on 23 July after some changes made to the original text of the Government. The House decided to go ahead and approve the measure, despite the Senate's halt of the rape bill.
The crime of feminicide
The bill introduces into the penal code (new Article 577) the feminicide as an autonomous and special case of homicide aimed at punishing with life imprisonment anyone who causes the death of a woman by committing the act as an act of discrimination, hatred or prevarication, or through acts of control, possession or domination towards the victim as a woman. Furthermore, the crime of feminicide is also triggered when the murder is committed because of the woman's refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship or as an act of restriction of her individual freedoms.
No to 45-day limit for wiretaps
The bill introduces an exception to the forty-five-day maximum overall duration of wiretapping operations: the limit does not apply when prosecuting for the crimes of feminicide, as well as for the crimes of ill-treatment against family members and cohabitants, involuntary manslaughter, non-consensual termination of pregnancy, sexual violence, persecutory acts and unlawful dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos in the aggravated forms that occur when the act is committed with the same qualifying elements as feminicide.
