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PRESS-CLIPPING - August 2005. |
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Violence Against Men?! Ana Magaš (27) from Zadar, stabbed her husband Lucijan (33) to death in March this year. The judge Branimira Zorica sentenced her several days ago to nine-and-a-half-years imprisonment. It is highly interesting to see how come a woman, who undoubtedly committed an act of violence and should definitely be punished for that, has actually become a victim. Dr. Josip Škavic, forensic expert in this case, confirmed that Lucijan "was choking Ana around her neck but was not strangling her", while Dr. Borben Uglešic, psychiatric expert, stated that "every choking causes an unpleasant feeling and ends in fear and need for self-defense" and also repeated his claim that at the time of committing the murder Ana was in the state of temporary insanity but otherwise she is a completely mentally sane person. From both of these pleadings, it is easy to conclude that at the time of murder Lucijan's hands were on Ana's neck, and I am absolutely positive that they were there with only one intention - to hurt her. Ana's attorney, Marko Marinovic, pointed to the evidence about the long-time physical and mental abuse that Ana had been exposed to, which only reached its peak that night, and Ana killed him in self-defense. Had she been able to prove this claim in court, she would be a free woman now, since murder in self-defense is not punishable. But judge Zorica was not convinced. During the past months, we were informed about Lucijan that he had been well educated, from a well off and respectable family. On the other hand, the only information we have about Ana is that she did not finished any faculty, which is in my opinion not relevant, because everybody knows that even the men with two faculty diplomas and five PhD's can be violent, ass well as that a woman does not need a diploma to kill her husband. The most interesting part of the sentence explanation refers to the judge's conviction that Ana's behavior "provoked her husband" and that she "took away her child's father". The fact that the judge took this child's mother for nine and a half years now is not very relevant, but it shows that violence is absolutely acceptable behavioral pattern, while a violent response to violence is not. Taken into consideration that rape and murder sentences are as a rule very lenient here, I cannot understand why judge Zorica decided on such a long sentence, except if the right reason is the fact that this is a case about a woman and not a man. We have the situation that saleswomen get killed over a couple of thousands kuna, football hooligans crash and burn all over Europe, children are raped in housed, homes and parks, women are beaten and murdered at home every day, and nobody really cares about it. I am really eager to see whether that man from Zagorje who killed his girlfriend will get a sentence as high as Ana Magaš's? Or will we witness another proof that a man's life is more valuable than a woman's? Branimira Mrak
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