[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.19.2″ background_image=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Cover-2_Femicides-.jpg” background_size=”initial” background_blend=”lighten” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”The undeclared war on women in Europe: Trapped in the maze of domestic violence” subhead=”Part 2″ button_one_url=”https:\/\/www.europeandatajournalism.eu\/eng\/News\/Data-news\/How-Europe-s-prisons-have-fared-in-the-Covid-19-pandemic” title_tablet=”The undeclared war on women in Europe: Trapped in the maze of domestic violence” title_phone=”The undeclared war on women in Europe” title_last_edited=”on|tablet” content_tablet=”<\/p>\n
Trapped in the maze of domestic violence<\/em><\/p>\n 5\/3\/2023<\/p>\n ” content_phone=”<\/p>\n ” content_last_edited=”on|phone” content_max_width_tablet=”” content_max_width_phone=”100%” content_max_width_last_edited=”on|phone” _builder_version=”4.19.2″ title_level=”h3″ content_font=”||||||||” content_text_align=”left” background_color_gradient_direction=”337deg” background_color_gradient_stops=”rgba(10,11,48,0.72) 86%|rgba(255,137,141,0.26) 100%” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(10,11,48,0.72)” background_color_gradient_start_position=”86%” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(255,137,141,0.26)” background_image=”https:\/\/miir.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Cover-2_Femicides-.jpg” background_position=”center” background_blend=”soft-light” vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ width_tablet=”” width_phone=”100%” width_last_edited=”on|phone” min_height=”447px” overflow-y=”hidden” custom_margin_tablet=”||||false|false” 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box_shadow_vertical_button_one_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_button_one_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_button_one_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_horizontal_button_two_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_button_two_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_button_two_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_button_two_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trapped in the maze of domestic violence<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 5\/3\/2023<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”121px” height=”224px” max_height=”1000px” custom_padding=”9px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”\u039a\u03b5\u03af\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf” _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-9px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Authors: Janine Louloudi, Nikos Morfonios, Kostas Zafeiropoulos (MIIR)<\/em><\/p>\n Data Analysis \u2013 Visualisations:\u00a0 Thanasis Troboukis (iM\u0395dDLab)<\/em><\/p>\n Illustration: Louiza Karageorgiou<\/em><\/p>\n Visualisations: Corina Petridi<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-40px||||false|false” custom_padding=”||12px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-30px||||false|false” custom_padding=”||29px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”23px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “It’s a very bad feeling, I haven’t gotten over it. You are not safe anywhere. You feel that nobody understands you, nobody wants to deal with you, nobody cares about your problem. Did you get away? Good. You didn’t? God rest her soul, we’ll cry about it on the news and that’s the end of it. One victim, then another, and another, and on and on. I have to admit to you that if I hadn’t left, I might have been one of them.”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This is how Eleni says she feels when she hears about each new femicide in the news. Divorced and the mother of a young child, she is a survivor of abuse. First, gross economic abuse in her marriage and then serious physical abuse at the hands of a colleague who insisted that he be her partner. Wearing the mask of someone who would help her through a difficult financial period, he approached her and then, when she refused to have a relationship with him, began stalking her as in a horror movie, going so far as to attack her in her home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That first time she ended up badly beaten in hospital, where she was urged by the staff to go to the police and press charges against him. Before she was able to do so, he visited her again at her home. And that is when \u201c<\/span>the terrible ordeal began<\/span><\/i>\u201d, she explains to MIIR. “<\/span>I would call the police to my house, have them remove him, and then he would come back two days later. Broken cell phones, changing SIM cards, having no contact with anyone. Closed shutters, not being able to go to the supermarket or to work or anywhere, because he was stalking me, he would come to my house, anywhere I went.<\/span><\/i>“<\/span><\/p>\n Eleni \u2013 who hides her real name for her safety, as the perpetrator is still at large and looking for her \u2013 lived through a six-month nightmare in which her stalker imposed a reign of terror on her in her home, self-servingly playing the role of her partner, controlling every aspect of her life by means of threats and physical violence.<\/span> Eleni is a prime example of a woman who, while completely isolated, with no support network, lost her independence overnight at the hands of an abusive man. Similar incidents of physical, sexual, economic and psychological violence were experienced by thousands of women in Europe during the pandemic. During that period there was an increase in violence against women in a number of European countries, as we reported in <\/span>the first part of MIIR’s cross-border investigation with the European Data Journalism Network<\/span><\/a> in collaboration with 18 news organisations, including iMEdD Lab, Deutsche Welle, El Confidencial, Civio, and OBCT.<\/span><\/p>\n Based on the data gathered by participating newsrooms, Greece showed the highest increase in femicides (187.5%), with 8 femicides officially recorded in 2020 and 23 in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-30px||-30px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/h5>\n
Trapped in the maze of domestic violence<\/b><\/h5>\n
5\/3\/2023<\/h5>\n
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<\/span>In desperation, she began to secretly look for a way to escape with her young child: “<\/span>I found closed doors everywhere. When I called a women’s support line, I was told: ‘You need to get an injunction and then we will put you on a list that says you have indeed been abused. There is a long wait. Only then can we deal with the question of your escape.’ Yes, I said, but if I press charges and police officers come, then who will save me from him after that? ‘Look’, they said, ‘there is nothing else that can be done’. I also approached the church, the attitude was the same, even worse… \u2018It’s not their business… They can’t do anything\u2019<\/span><\/i>“.<\/span><\/p>\n