SKThe article discusses the issue of domestic violence protection in Austria and Slovakia, highlighting concerns over the effectiveness of legal frameworks and law enforcement responses. It references Austria’s pioneering 1997 legislation that mandated 'who hits, leaves,' which inspired similar laws across Europe including Slovakia. The piece features an interview with Maria Rösslhumer, a leading Austrian expert on protecting victims of domestic abuse, who notes that the situation has deteriorated since the rise of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) in power between 2017 and 2019. She points out a concerning increase in femicides and attempted murders of women, with reports of 15 femicides and over 40 attempted killings in the first half of this year alone. In Slovakia, there is no official statistical record of such crimes, but opposition politician Lucia Plaváková mentions 17 women killed by their partners in the previous year. The article also examines the case of Zuzana Zemanová, a Slovak teacher murdered by her husband after he was released from prison under conditional release. The article raises questions about whether such a tragic outcome could occur in Austria, noting that a
Bias read (Left): The article frames the decline in protections for domestic abuse victims as a result of far-right policies, emphasizing the negative impact of the FPÖ's governance. It highlights systemic failures and calls attention to the lack of effective legal safeguards, using Austria's historical leadership in
