Giorgia Meloni claims ‘higher incidence’ of immigrants in rape cases in Italy before accepting ‘now I will be called racist’

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has claimed that illegal immigrants are responsible for Italy’s higher rape rate and that police presence in cities should be increased to make public spaces safer.

Speaking in an extensive interview with the Italian women’s magazine Donna Moderna Yesterday – the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – Meloni acknowledged she would be labeled a racist for delivering the message so bluntly.

The Italian prime minister said combating mass illegal immigration would contribute to efforts to make public spaces safer for women.

“Now I’m going to be called a racist, but unfortunately sexual violence perpetrated by immigrants is becoming more common,” especially by those “who arrived illegally,” Meloni said.

“It is clear that if you have nothing, there is a ‘degeneration’ that takes place that can lead somewhere,” she added, before going on to say that the justice system must try to properly punish those who commit gender-based violence.

“We must guarantee the presence of the police, guarantee that crimes are happening, guarantee that when someone commits a crime, he or she pays for that crime,” she concluded.

But Riccardo Magi, leader of Italy’s More Europe party, has rebuked Meloni’s government for claiming the country is seeing an increase in sexual violence due to illegal immigration, saying the Interior Ministry figures themselves suggested that the vast majority of rapes and femicides are committed. by Italian citizens.

The row over gender-based violence is currently a hot topic in Italy.

Last week, a foundation was established in memory of Giulia Cecchetin, a 22-year-old Italian woman who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend last year.

At the opening of the memorial, Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara released a video making a claim similar to Meloni’s yesterday, sparking a major reaction.

“We should not overlook that the increase in incidents of sexual violence is somehow linked to forms of marginalization and perversion resulting from illegal immigration,” Valditara said.

More Europe leader Magi quickly stepped aside, sharing a post on social media accusing Valditara of spreading “fake news.”

‘The statement of the Minister of Education is contradicted by all statistics, the data released by the Ministry of the Interior speaks clearly: more than 80% of femicides in Italy are committed by Italian citizens.

“Valditara should be ashamed: it is simply blatant racist exploitation,” he concluded.

According to a report from Euro news According to figures from Italy’s National Statistical Office (ISTAT), 334 murders were committed in the country in 2023, an increase of 3.7% compared to the previous year.

According to the agency, about 94% of Italian women killed that year were victims of compatriots.

Although femicide and rape are two different crimes, ISTAT figures also recognize that most reported cases of rape in Italy in 2023 were committed by people who knew the victim.

In 62.7% of reported cases, the perpetrator was a partner, while friends or relatives of the victim accounted for another 13%.

Meanwhile, only 4.4% of women who said they were raped by an Italian filed a complaint about the incident, compared to 24.7% of those who claimed the perpetrator was foreign, ISTAT revealed.

Saw it last weekend Tens of thousands of people march in Rome on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to protest gender-based violence. Italy According to a report from the EURES think tank, it has claimed the lives of 99 women so far this year.

Similar protests broke out in countries around the world, as well as in France, which is currently witnessing one of the most horrific rape and sexual abuse trials in its history.

Prosecutors said yesterday that 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot, a self-confessed rapist who allowed dozens of men to rape his wife after drugging her for more than a decade, should spend the rest of his life in a cell.

Attorney General Laure Chabaud said during his speech at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon: “The maximum penalty is twenty years in prison, which is too much and too little considering the seriousness of the repeated attacks.”

Ms Chabaud said Dominque’s wife Gisele Pelicot, a mother of three, had been reduced to an “object” by men who only “used her for easy sex” for almost a decade.

Her ex-husband contacted them online and then invited them to the family home in Mazan, near Avignon, where they raped his drugged wife.

“The condition of Gisele Pelicot, who was almost in a coma, should have raised the alarm,” Ms. Chabaud said.

“Rape is characterized by a lack of consent,” she added, saying there was no way the victim had voluntarily used drugs to put her to sleep as part of a “libertine game,” as the defense has suggested.

“What pleasure can she honestly get out of it, without counting the side effects the next day?” said Mrs. Chabaud.

Ms. Pelicot developed significant health problems as a result of the abuse, including several sexually transmitted diseases.

Jean-François Mayet, the second attorney general in the case, said “20,000 photos and videos” were found in a catalog of the abuse on Mr. Pelicot’s devices.

Nearly all of them showed an unconscious Mrs. Pelicot being subjected to gruesome acts.

Both Pelicots made final statements in court, and the trial is expected to conclude next month.