Bill now moves to lower house for final approval.Italian senators on Wednesday gave their unanimous approval to new legislation aimed at combatting femicide and gender-based violence.The bill, which was approved with 161 votes in favour and was followed by applause in the chamber, will now pass to the lower house for final approval. Welcoming the result, senate speaker Ignazio La Russa said it proved how the senate is "capable of expressing itself on important issues regardless of political affiliation". The bill establishes femicide as a separate crime from intentional homicide, punishable with a life sentence, Corriere della Sera reports. It also tackles aggravating circumstances, with increased penalties for the crimes of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual violence and revenge porn. The bill had originally defined femicide as the murder of a woman "when the act is committed as an act of discrimination or hatred against the victim because she is a woman, in order to suppress the exercise of her rights or freedoms, or, in any case, the expression of her personality." However the new text in the bill approved by the senate defines the crime of femicide as: "Whoever causes the death of a woman, when the act is committed as an act of discrimination or hatred toward the injured party because she is a woman, or is a consequence of her refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship [relazione affettiva], or of submitting to a condition of subjugation or otherwise a limitation of her individual freedoms, imposed or demanded by reason of her condition as a woman, shall be punished with life imprisonment." The changes in the text are significant, according to Corriere della Sera: the reference to "repression of rights or expression of personality" is eliminated, and the concept of "refusal" is introduced: to be considered femicide, the murder must be the consequence of a refusal by the woman to "establish or maintain a relationship." The same change is made to the aggravating circumstances provided by law for other crimes such as domestic abuse, assault and stalking. Susanna Donatella Campione, a senator with premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party, who drafted the bill, cited a recent poll which "confirmed [the newly-passed legislation] as among the most eagerly awaited laws by the majority of Italians." "I believe that politics should not be divided on violence against women," she said, adding that she hopes that the lower house "will proceed equally quickly and with consensus, to give Italy a law that puts us at the forefront in Europe." "The fight against femicide is a war. And in this war, each of us is called to do our part. Even the judiciary" - said centre-right Forza Italia senator and deputy senate speaker Licia Ronzulli - "Too often we are faced with sentences that cruelly mock victims, who risk being killed twice. From today, justice will have a clearer voice. The state is here and is on the side of women." Photo credit: Simona Sirio / Shutterstock.com.

Italian senators on Wednesday gave their unanimous approval to new legislation aimed at combatting femicide and gender-based violence. The bill, which was approved with 161 votes in favour and was followed by applause in the chamber, will now pass to the lower house for final approval. Welcoming the result, senate speaker Ignazio La Russa said it proved how the senate is "capable of expressing itself on important issues regardless of political affiliation". The bill establishes femicide as a separate crime from intentional homicide, punishable with a life sentence, Corriere della Sera reports. It also tackles aggravating circumstances, with increased penalties for the crimes of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual violence and revenge porn. The bill had originally defined femicide as the murder of a woman "when the act is committed as an act of discrimination or hatred against the victim because she is a woman, in order to suppress the exercise of her rights or freedoms, or, in any case, the expression of her personality." However the new text in the bill approved by the senate defines the crime of femicide as: "Whoever causes the death of a woman, when the act is committed as an act of discrimination or hatred toward the injured party because she is a woman, or is a consequence of her refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship [relazione affettiva], or of submitting to a condition of subjugation or otherwise a limitation of her individual freedoms, imposed or demanded by reason of her condition as a woman, shall be punished with life imprisonment." The changes in the text are significant, according to Corriere della Sera: the reference to "repression of rights or expression of personality" is eliminated, and the concept of "refusal" is introduced: to be considered femicide, the murder must be the consequence of a refusal by the woman to "establish or maintain a relationship." The same change is made to the aggravating circumstances provided by law for other crimes such as domestic abuse, assault and stalking. Susanna Donatella Campione, a senator with premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party, who drafted the bill, cited a recent poll which "confirmed [the newly-passed legislation] as among the most eagerly awaited laws by the majority of Italians." "I believe that politics should not be divided on violence against women," she said, adding that she hopes that the lower house "will proceed equally quickly and with consensus, to give Italy a law that puts us at the forefront in Europe." "The fight against femicide is a war. And in this war, each of us is called to do our part. Even the judiciary" - said centre-right Forza Italia senator and deputy senate speaker Licia Ronzulli - "Too often we are faced with sentences that cruelly mock victims, who risk being killed twice. From today, justice will have a clearer voice. The state is here and is on the side of women." Photo credit: Simona Sirio / Shutterstock.com.