Friday morning’s events at the Jože Pučnik Airport shocked Slovenia with the news of the violent death of a woman of Iranian origin. The police have informed the public that this was a murder and that the perpetrator is still at large. The left-wing NGO, the 8th of March Institute (Inštitut 8. marec), also commented on the incident and made a shocking statement.
“Femicide is not a family tragedy, but the result of patriarchal patterns and systemic inequalities that deny women the fundamental right to security. With Trump’s new mandate, which he won, among other things, by promising to decrease women’s rights, with the rise of misogynist online influencers and with statistics showing that femicide is on the rise, it is clear that violence against women is set to escalate”.
Such a link is a completely unnecessary politicisation and simplification. Instead of linking cases to political figures from abroad, perhaps we should pay more attention to the question of what we can do concretely in Slovenia to ensure women’s safety and better violence prevention mechanisms.
The horrific event raises the question of whether the culture of violence that we know in Islamic countries has finally made its way to our country, too. As the intensive criminal investigation is still ongoing, the police are not in a position to provide further details at this time. However, it is believed that the victim was an Iranian national who was stabbed several times. The perpetrator, who is still on the run and possibly already outside Slovenia, is also believed to be a foreign national.
Sara Kovač
