Calls for femicide to become separate crime in Greece mount as two more women killed

Article here. Excerpt:

'Changes to the penal code more recently have ensured that the severest penalties will be meted out to those found guilty of murdering women, with perpetrators no longer able to cite extenuating circumstances in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence if the act is deemed a “crime of passion”. The justice ministry is also poised to overhaul domestic violence legislation drafted more than a decade ago.

The country’s gender equality minister, Maria Syrengela, described the measures as unprecedented. “There’ll be no ability for men to claim they acted in the heat of the moment, that it was a crime of passion,” she told the Guardian.

“And when the domestic violence law is redrafted in line with the Istanbul convention, we will of course advise that femicide is included,” she said. “It’s about time.”'