Muriel, 56 years old, the first victim of the New Year with thirty (30) stab wounds to the chest by her companion. Murdered because she wanted to leave him. The killer has been placed in temporary detainment (placé en détention provisoire). What does that mean, exactly? Will he be let out in a few days? Will he be imprisoned, and if so for how long and under what charge?

Why is this felony so rampant in “civilized” countries? Because the crime of killing women is not taken seriously in rich, first-world nations.

An unnamed military servicewoman, 28 years old, the second victim of the New Year stabbed multiple times and left for dead. Her killer was also in the military, “but in a different regiment”. He has been taken into police custody and charged with intentional homicide. According to testimony from the killer’s brother whose apartment they had been weekending in, the couple had consumed a lot of alcohol and a violent altercation had taken place. While the brother telephoned the police, the killer dragged his girlfriend out to the landing and stabbed her.

An unnamed mother of three children, 45 years old, was found in the trunk of a car in Nice. The third victim of the year, she had been strangled to death by her companion.

Last night just north of Paris, a 29-year-old mother and her 2-year-old daughter were stabbed to death in their own home. The father of the child has been arrested.

Unlike in the U.S.A., knives are the weapon of choice, not guns.

113 femicides in France in 2021

102 femicides in France in 2020

146 femicides in France in 2019

For a long, long time in this country (and other European countries), the killing of a wife or girlfriend was called a “crime passionnel” (crime of passion). The killer was let off the hook for that reason.

The term “femicide” doesn’t exist in the French Penal Code. In other words, it is not officially recognized.

Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime, broadly defined as “the intentional killing of women or girls by men.”

From statistics provided by the French Ministry of Justice, 65% of killed women in 2019 had contacted the police before their murder. But the police didn’t react for two reasons: misogyny exists within the ranks of the police and because they are not at all trained to respond to this type of situation. These women could be alive today if only the police had responded correctly.

The case that shocked the country occurred only last year. A 31-year-old ex-wife and mother of three small children (5, 8 and 13) was dragged out of her home, shot and then burned alive in the street in a town near Bordeaux. Police arrested the ex-husband shortly afterwards. The man already had seven convictions, including one indictment in 2020 for domestic violence in the presence of a minor. The victim had filed numerous harassment and assault complaints against him.

But listen to this: it was revealed that the police officer who registered the final complaint of the victim had himself been sentenced for domestic violence.

What does President Macron have to say on this subject? Not much; nothing, actually. The French government, like all other governments except Spain, are accused of remaining ‘scandalously’ silent. Why? You’d think that this year being an election year, he’d get on top of the subject.

SPAIN is the first European country to officially count all femicides

It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a start, I guess. “What is not named does not exist,” said Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero. “We have to recognize all of the victims and make visible all forms of violence – all machista [sexist] killings – so that we can put in place policies for prevention, early detection and eradication.”

Women’s groups are asking that these violent acts be treated as “misogynist terrorism” and, as such, a State issue.