Accused of having pushed his ex-partner to suicide, a man appears before the Belfort court this Thursday, November 28, 2024. One more step in the fight for the recognition of femicides by forced suicide.
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Followed up to her work, up to 1,000 messages in two days, threatens to publish intimate videos… Victim of domestic, physical and moral violence for many years, Agnès G. committed suicide in July 2024, at the age of 57. Her ex-spouse is on trial in Belfort this Thursday, November 28. In pre-trial detention until then, he is being prosecuted for violence, invasion of privacy and moral harassment leading to suicide.
This trial could set a precedent. Because if a disproportionate and unsuspected number of victims of domestic violence end their lives, few of these cases end up in the courts. The issue? Add forced suicides to the long list of feminicides in France. And highlight the devastating consequences of the psychological side of domestic violence.
► ALSO READ. “It will stop when you are dead”, victims of domestic violence, these young women say
On November 19, the Interministerial Mission against Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking (Miprof) revealed this still unknown figure: in 2023, 773 women victims of moral harassment by (ex)spouse committed suicide or attempted suicide. This is twice as many as the number of those who die directly at the hands of their partner each year.
The Belfort courthouse, in November 2024.
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© Christine Dumas – MAXPPP
This statistic broadens the spectrum and severity of domestic violence in the collective consciousness. Because if it were counted among feminicides, we would no longer be talking about a woman killed every three days by her partner, but one per day in France.
Although mental health experts point out that suicide is never a single cause, the responsibility of these harassers for the death of their victim cannot be ignored.
Major progress: forced suicide has found a place in our laws. France is one of the rare countries to recognize it as an aggravating circumstance of moral harassment. Following the 2019 Grenelle on domestic violence, article 222-33-22-1 was introduced into the Penal Code. It stipulates that harassment by a spouse or ex-spouse leading to a suicide attempt or suicide is punishable by ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of €150,000.
For lawyers and civil parties, the challenge remains to obtain justice. According to LesJours.fr, of the 223 procedures of this type transmitted to the public prosecutor’s office in 2022, 25 were the subject of criminal proceedings. This same media gave around twenty convictions for forced suicide between 2020 and 2023. Whatever the outcome of the Belfort trial, it is one of the rare spotlights placed on the problem in recent years.
Suicide is never inevitable. If you have suicidal thoughts, talk to your loved ones, contact your doctor, or 3114 (free national number 24/7, professional and confidential). The SOS Amitiés hotline is also available 24 hours a day at 0972394050.
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