Trial over shock femicide of Giulia Cecchettin begins

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 23 - The trial of Filippo Turetta for the brutal murder last year of his 22-year-old former girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin, a case that shocked Italy and highlighted its problem with femicide and gender-based violence, began in Venice on Monday.
    Turetta, 22, has confessed to stabbing Cecchettin to death at Fossò, near Venice, on November 11, 2023, days before she was due to graduate from Padua University in biomedical engineering.
    The case caused widespread dismay partly because of the brutality of the killing and also because of the young age of the perpetrator and victim.
    Prosecutors says Turetta, who was doing the same course was Cecchettin, stabbed her 75 times.
    The defendant was not present at Monday's hearing and his lawyer Giovanni Caruso told reporters that it was possible that he would not make any court appearances.
    Several of Cecchettin relatives have requested to be admitted as civil plaintiffs in the trial, along with a number of associations for the defence of women.
    Cecchettin was reported missing on the day she was murdered after she met up with Turetta and went for a meal with him.
    Her body was found in a gully at Val Caltea, near Lake Barcis in Friuli, on November 18, 2023 .
    Turetta went on the run after dumping the corpse.
    He was tracked on the side of the road near Leipzig, Germany after he ran out of money and his car ran out of petrol, a week after the murder.
    Speaking at her funeral in December, the victim's father Gino Cecchettin said he hoped her death might mark a turning point in the fight against gender-based violence in Italy.
    Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, who had already committed to tackling the issue, subsequently sent a circular letter to schools inviting them to get pupils to reflect on his words.
    (ANSA).