Malta Will Make Femicide A Distinct Crime, Robert Abela Announces
Malta will specifically criminalise femicide, Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced.
In a statement today, Abela confirmed that Cabinet has approved legal changes aimed at “enhancing our fight against gender-based violence and introducing the concept of femicide in the Criminal Code”.
Abela said more details will be published in the coming days and that he wants Parliament to debate this proposed law as soon as possible.
Following the recent murder of Paulina Dembska, the Women’s Rights Foundation and the University of Malta proposed that femicide should be considered an aggravated offence to homicide.
The Nationalist Party, as well as new party Volt Malta, backed this proposal.
However, lawyer Veronique Dalli had dismissed this call, arguing that femicide is already criminalised as homicide and that there cannot be stricter penalties than life imprisonment.
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