Femicide enters criminal law as an independent crime. It is defined broadly (as an act of discrimination or hatred against 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 council ratified the turning point. The council definitively approved, unanimously (237 yes votes), the bill that included the crime of femicide in the Criminal Code.
The provisions in detail contain a new article 577-bis which designates certain types of murder, providing a life sentence for anyone who causes the death of a woman, committing the act, as we read in the documentation developed by the Chamber’s research body, as an act of discrimination, hatred or harassment, or through an act of possession, control or domination over the victim because she is a woman. The bill includes other regulatory interventions to combat violence against women and to protect victims.
The bill was approved by the Council of Ministers on 7 March 2025 and voted unanimously by the Senate on 23 July after several changes were made to the Government’s original text. The House voted to go ahead and approve the measure, although the rape bill stalled in the Senate.
The crime of femicide
The bill inserts femicide into the Criminal Code (new article 577) as an autonomous and special type of murder intended to sanction life imprisonment for anyone who causes the death of a woman, committing an act as an act of discrimination, hatred or harassment, or through an act of control, possession or domination over the victim as a woman. In addition, the crime of femicide is also triggered when murder is committed because of a woman’s refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship or as an act of limiting individual freedom.
There is no 45 day limit on wiretapping
The bill introduces an exception to the overall duration of interception operations which is a maximum of forty-five days: the limitation does not apply when legal proceedings are initiated for the crime of murder against women, as well as crimes of abuse of family members and cohabitants, involuntary murder, termination of pregnancy without consent, sexual violence, acts of abuse and illegal dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos in worse forms which occur when the crime is committed with the same qualifying elements as the murder of women.
