Athens, Greece – On the night of April 1, a Monday, 28-year-old Kyriaki Griva’s ex-partner stabbed her to demise exterior a police station in northern Athens.
She was the fifth girl to be killed by an ex or companion this 12 months in Greece.
Griva had simply left her native police station, which she visited in concern of her former boyfriend, who had been loitering close to her home.
She had beforehand filed formal complaints in opposition to him however on this event, declined to take action. Whereas her reasoning shouldn’t be clear, victims of home violence typically select to not make formal complaints as a result of they’re petrified of repercussions, fear the method could also be triggering and have little religion in companies that are supposed to present safety.
Griva requested a police escort again dwelling that evening. She was directed to a police hotline, which she known as. An operator reportedly advised her that “patrol automobiles usually are not a taxi service”.
Griva was then killed shortly afterwards within the neighborhood of Agioi Anargyroi station.
The 39-year-old suspect was imprisoned awaiting trial; he’s reportedly being monitored in a psychiatric ward.
In response to the homicide, the Minister for Civil Safety Michalis Chrisochoidis promised an in-depth investigation and expressed assist for together with the time period femicide inside the Greek penal code – a degree campaigners have lengthy pushed for – though he added that this may finally be as much as the Ministry of Justice.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rebutted criticism of his police minister saying, “the fault can’t all the time lie on the prime when one thing goes improper within the state”, however acknowledged that the federal government wanted to do extra.
In the meantime, attorneys representing Griva’s household have since known as for the officers who spoke to Griva that day to be investigated for potential negligence and manslaughter.
Charities and households of victims have lengthy accused Greek authorities of not taking home violence critically sufficient.
In December 2023, the identical month a lady was shot lifeless on the island of Salamina by her companion at her mom’s home having reported him to the police, a Greek artist’s work alluding to femicide was faraway from the Greek consulate in New York.
A authorities spokesperson stated Georgia Lale’s “Neighbourhood Guilt”, which depicted the Greek flag made with pink bedsheets, was taken down as a result of the consulate area ought to stay impartial and “there are some issues which can be sacred above all, one in every of them is our flag”.
Lale stated in response that they have been “saddened” that their work was misinterpreted.
“Victims of femicide are heroes of the battle for freedom and life in Greece and internationally,” they stated.
Katerina Kotti, the mom of 31-year-old Dora Zacharia, who was killed by her companion on the island of Rhodes in September, 2021, advised Al Jazeera that she felt “rage, anger and disappointment” on the information of every new femicide.
Zacharia was killed exterior her dad and mom’ dwelling.
“This can’t occur once more, how typically will this preserve taking place?” Kotti requested. “My soul bleeds that one other woman who was filled with goals, in love with life, was misplaced, one other household have misplaced the bottom underneath their ft and must battle to place the items again collectively, that is very onerous to do, they may by no means recover from the lack of their little one.”
Of Griva’s killing exterior a police station, she stated: “In fact, we shouldn’t leap to conclusions or generalise however the authorities ought to pay extra consideration and consider every case extra meticulously.”
Kotti stated that boys particularly needs to be taught from a younger age that “they’re not entitled to anybody and that no means no, nobody belongs to anybody else”.
Protests and vigils have sprung up throughout Greece in latest weeks, with some carrying protest banners written with the alleged phrases of the police officer earlier than Griva was murdered: “The patrol automotive shouldn’t be a taxi.”
There has additionally been an uptick in reporting of home violence instances – and arrests.
Anna Vouyioukas, a social scientist, gender equality knowledgeable and advocacy officer at Diotima, a centre for gender rights and equality in Greece, advised Al Jazeera that it was “apparent that femicides could also be the results of institutional violence because the state doesn’t present ensures to girls, and doesn’t create situations of security locally, at dwelling, at work, within the public area and never even within the shut neighborhood of a police station”.
Vouyioukas stated regardless of a spike in home violence instances as proven within the police’s personal knowledge, “gender-based crimes usually are not taken critically by regulation enforcement authorities, no less than not in all instances”.
She stated that from 2020 to 2021, the variety of girls home violence victims elevated by nearly 73 p.c, and from 2021 to 2022 there was an increase of 37 p.c.
Vouyioukas urged Greece to undertake a authorized recognition of femicide within the penal code, which she stated would “make the phenomenon seen and provides prominence to its social and gender dimension”.
“It’s a crime dedicated on the premise of gender discrimination and unequal energy relations,” she stated, as she additionally known as for additional assist for survivors and extra coaching for cops.
Kotti is a part of a bunch of grieving households which have misplaced feminine relations to home violence.
They wish to see life sentences for convicts that provide no prospect of launch.
“We must always inform it as it’s,” she stated. “Those that have had a life sentence are the ladies themselves after which the households who’re compelled to stay of their absence.”