The trial a Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, the 44-year-old accused of the femicide of his former partner, Julie Douib, which started a massive series of demonstrations against violence against women.
Julie Douib was only 34 years old in March 2019 when she was murdered.
In the previous months, the woman had filed six complaints against her former partner, as well as the father of her two children. Precisely this circumstance has sparked popular indignation, with positions that have agreed both politicians and ordinary citizens, bewildered by how there has been no intervention to protect a person who signaled a concrete danger.
According to the indictment, the man went to the home of the victim, from whom he had been separated for six months and shot her with a Glock pistol. Though premeditation was denied, Garcia-Cruciani faces a life sentence.
Julie’s Parents’ Attorney, Lucien and Violetta, said: “We are waiting to hear the truth from the accused person and to shed some light on what happened, on the crime, on the context, on Julie’s life in recent months, which have been particularly painful. We must always contextualize these acts. The explanations provided so far have been unsatisfactory, as well as contradicted by a number of elements, including ballistics ”.
The defendant’s lawyer stated that his client should be tried for what he did and not as a symbol of gender-based violence: “Every week in France two or three cases like this go to trial. Why should my client’s be different from others? He cannot be blamed for all the femicides that are committed. The process is not the correct venue for politics and activism. What he did is terrifying and we will see in the course of the process how it came to these extreme consequences. He is aware of what he has done, accepts it and regrets it. But he doesn’t want to be punished for all the crimes that take place in France against women ”.