Chiara Balistreri speaks out against domestic violence and femicide in viral TikTok video.

A social media post by a young woman from Bologna has sparked a fresh debate about femicide in Italy ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

In a viral video, 21-year-old Chiara Balistreri documented the domestic violence she suffered at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, saying that she chose to record the message "while I'm alive, before becoming the umpteenth case of femicide".

After enduring five years of domestic violence, Chiara found the courage two and a half years ago to report her former partner to police after he beat her savagely.

The 24-year-old man, who spent the last two and a half years on the run abroad, was arrested last month after police were tipped off anonymously that he had returned home.

Following a short period in jail, the man was placed under house arrest before absconding a second time. Chiara now fears for her life.

"In these two and a half years he never stopped threatening me, he never stopped saying that he would come back to burn me with acid, to kill me, to make me pay for reporting him", Chiara said on Tiktok.

La denuncia di Chiara Balistreri è agghiacciante. Nonostante tutte le leggi, le denunce, le campagne, l'impegno degli operatori e delle forze dell'ordine, una ragazza deve essere costretta a vivere nella paura di essere aggredita perché lo Stato non fa il suo dovere.

Come si può… pic.twitter.com/zZcWhSzggU

— Italia Viva (@ItaliaViva) November 6, 2024

"Despite an attempted murder (...) absconding, physical and domestic violence and serious injuries", the man was given house arrest "in the same house where he broke my nose", Chiara said.

"To say that I am bitter, pissed off, disappointed, scared is an understatement", she stated, before railing against the authorities that are supposed to protect victims of domestic violence.

"I would like to thank the judge who gave Gabriel the chance to return home" - she said bitterly - "to let him escape for the second time".

She also wondered if the judge would have handed Gabriel the same sentence and used the same yardstick "if I had been his daughter."

"I don't know what turn the story will take, what turn my life will take", she said, adding: "I wonder why in Italy we have to wait for a tragedy to move and do something in the right way".