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Italian man who stabbed ex-girlfriend more than 70 times gets life in prison for murder

Body of 22-year-old Giulia Checchettin found in ditch in northern Veneto region

Ap Correspondent
Wednesday 04 December 2024 04:31 GMT
Related video: Violence against women: Changing the discourse

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A 22-year-old Italian man who confessed in court to killing his ex-girlfriend was convicted of her murder on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison in a case that fueled national outrage over violence against women.

Filippo Turetta looked down as the verdict and sentence were read in a Venice court a little over a year after the body of 22-year-old Giulia Checchettin was found in a ditch in the northern Veneto region. She had been stabbed more than 70 times, and her body was wrapped in plastic bags.

Checchettin went missing last November after going to the mall with her ex-boyfriend. Her disappearance gripped Italy as authorities searched for them. She was found a week later.

Turetta was later arrested in Germany.

In this image taken from video 22-year-old Italian man Filippo Turetta, who confessed in court to killing his ex-girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin, was convicted of her murder on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison, at a court in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, 3 Dec 2024
In this image taken from video 22-year-old Italian man Filippo Turetta, who confessed in court to killing his ex-girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin, was convicted of her murder on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison, at a court in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, 3 Dec 2024 (AP)

The killing fueled demands for action to stop violence against women. In the first 10 months of this year, 96 women in Italy were killed, 51 of them by current or former romantic partners, according to Interior Ministry statistics.

Some 10,000 mourners attended Cecchettin’s funeral a year ago, ringing bells and shaking keys as part of a campaign to “make noise” against gender violence. Her father, Gino Checchettin, urged mourners to be “agents of change” in a culture that often “undervalues the lives of women.”

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