The FILIA Centre, together with other non-governmental organisations, is organising a public demonstration in Victoriei Square on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., following the case of femicide that took place this week in a locality in Prahova County.

'A man kills a pregnant woman after repeatedly striking her in the head with an axe. The femicide took place in front of the victim's mother and two children. After years of abuse, the victim managed to escape from her attacker's home and fled with her children to her parents' home. The man had physically, psychologically and sexually abused her since she was a teenager. The police visited the abuser on the morning of the crime, but they let him go and allowed him to commit the murder,' the protest organisers show in a press release sent to AGERPRES.

According to the cited source, this is the 26th case of femicide since the beginning of the year.

'This means that a woman is killed every week. Every year, dozens of women are killed in Romania simply because they are women. Violence against women is insufficiently punished, tolerated by those who should protect us, and then turned into victim blaming. (...) We are shocked by the passivity of the state institutions that should protect us and prevent violence and femicide. The response from the authorities has been almost non-existent, and solutions are slow to emerge. Silence and ignorance are complicit in murder,' emphasise representatives of the FILIA Centre.

The protesters demand:

* that laws be enforced, regardless of the form that violence takes;

* that risk assessment become mandatory in all cases of domestic violence, both at the level of the public prosecutor's office and the courts;

* real and adequate funding for services for victims and perpetrators;

* continuous and mandatory training for police officers, prosecutors, judges, health professionals and social workers in the field of gender-based violence;

* centralised and transparent data on femicide and all forms of gender-based violence;

* ensuring that cases of gender-based violence are investigated and resolved within a reasonable time frame;

* survivors of gender-based violence should be able to file criminal complaints against their attackers without a statute of limitations;

* real prevention mechanisms through education and awareness-raising: concepts such as consent, healthy relationships and gender equality must be taught in schools;

* systematic consultation and inclusion of feminist organisations and independent experts in all policies related to gender-based violence. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)