Germany Italian man gets life sentence for murder of ex-girlfriend

A 22-year-old student in Italy has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

After a two-month trial, a court in Venice found him guilty of killing the woman, who was a year older than him, in November last year. The suspect was only arrested after eight days on the run through Austria and Germany at a rest stop on the A9 highway near Leipzig.

The case has been making headlines in Italy for more than a year than any other recent crime. The murder of Giulia Cecchettin, who was 22 years old at the time, also triggered a major discussion about so-called femicides: when women are killed because of their gender. The most common form of femicide is the killing of women by their partner or ex-partner. There were at least 43 such murders in Italy last year.

Arrested near Leipzig after eight days on the run

The student from the northern Italian city of Padua was killed with 75 stab wounds in a parking lot in the province of Venice. Suspicion quickly turned to her ex-boyfriend, who had been stalking her for months after the break-up. The manhunt dominated the headlines for days until the student was arrested in Germany. Apparently he had run out of gas on the highway.

During questioning, the young man quickly confessed. He also admitted that he had brought the murder weapon to a meeting with his ex-girlfriend along with gifts in a rucksack.

SDA