The Executive Director of the NGO „Women’s rights“, Ruzica Simic, sent a letter in which she protested the „below legal minimum“ sentence of only three and a half years for the attempted murder of K.M. from Gracanica. Simic also pointed out the irregularities in the trial, in which „the judge did not take the injured party’s statement regarding the defendant’s allegations, but easily accepted these allegations as true“.
The defendant T.M, who stabbed his wife K.M. more than 22 times in the presence of two children on April 24th, was sentenced to only three and a half years in prison – which Simic considers a mild punishment.
„In cases of violence and the murder of women, an objective and impartial investigation, adequate punishment for perpetrators, and institutional responsibility in dealing with cases of domestic violence are necessary,“ Ruzica Simic wrote in the letter.
In Serbia, in domestic violence cases, 29 women and two children were killed in 2017. Likewise, in the first eight months of 2018, 25 women and seven men were killed in domestic violence cases.
Simic also called for adequate punishment of family and gender-based violence.
„There is nothing that a woman can do to deserve violence. Violence against women is unacceptable and we must condemn it severely and punish it accordingly. Zero tolerance to violence. And nothing else,“ added Simic.
She also pointed out the procedural flaws, as the trial judge did not take the injured party’s statement on allegations made by the defendant, thus accepting the defendant’s allegations as completely truthful, without allowing the injured party to present her side of the story.
„The judge easily and automatically accepted his confession, his deep remorse, and a promise not to repeat this deed as a mitigating circumstance,“ the letter says.
The victim M.K. also said that she is not satisfied with the verdict and announced an appeal, expressing suspicions of corruption and concern about her safety.
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Man sentenced to 3 years 8 months in prison for the attempted murder of his wife
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
