All for nothing

The victim of the latest femicide, which took place in the Athens suburb of Menidi on May 16, had not hesitated: She had reported her abusive partner to the police three times since 2013. The authorities had responded all three times; they had identified the assailant and arrested him. Following the last complaint, at the start of the month, it even appears that they also employed modern tools designed to protect vulnerable women and to offset efforts by abusers to exploit the leniencies of the legal system: The 40-year-old victim had installed the Panic Button app at the recommendation of the police, had received the code to activate it and had been offered psychological support and a spot at a shelter, far away from her tormentor. It is said that she turned down the shelter.

At the end of the day, the mechanism fell short: The woman was stabbed to death in the middle of...