Endless and disgusting, the scandal of the Șoșoacă spouses is not only a smokescreen in front of Romania’s serious subjects, but also, especially I would say, a cynical mockery of the real sufferings caused by a terrible and extremely widespread phenomenon in Romania – family violence.
Evidently, Mrs. Șoșoacă is not a victim of domestic violence. The strongest argument, which spares us from any further considerations, is the court decision that established that the husband should not wear a monitoring bracelet.
On the contrary, Mrs. Șoșoacă is a promoter of violence, at least verbal. Her manifestations are of an unmatched aggressiveness in current Romanian politics. And not just occasionally, in moments of maximum annoyance, but constantly, as a mode of action.
Let us remember that Mrs. Șoșoacă was, from the Parliament's platform, the author of a genuine instigation to verbal violence regarding those who managed the pandemic.
Therefore, it is very difficult for me to see anything other than a way to gain free publicity in her accusations against her husband, as the court has noted, while in this country there are many people, especially women and children, who endure the hell of all kinds of family violence and are not protected by anyone.
The Real Victims
According to the Public Ministry's data from last year, 1,645 people were victims of such acts, 173 were killed, 659 were beaten. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Because, just like in the case of sexual offenses, the number of acts that are reported and handled by prosecutors, so they end up in the prosecution statistics, represents a minority compared to the real number of this casuistry.
It is a well-known fact that most victims remain silent and, at best, leave, and at worst, continue to endure until many eventually end up in the statistics, killed.
Why this happens is a complicated discussion. In short, because the prevailing mentality is not favorable to either women or children. Beating is considered a right from birth and is often seen as a traditional right of the head of the family. We have plenty of proverbs that support this mentality.
Victims stay because, in general, they have nowhere to go, are financially dependent, and fear the world's reaction, which will not be favorable to them.
I notice the speed with which the Police in the Capital mobilized to save Mrs. Șoșoacă, issued the protection order, and put a monitoring bracelet on her husband. Very well! But I wonder if the reaction would have been as prompt if the complainant was someone in distress, who with difficulty gathered the courage to seek help. I have serious doubts.
While Mrs. Șoșoacă was caricaturing a real drama, the bracelet put unnecessarily on her husband, as the court established, could have been used in cases of real danger to the victim.
Without Bracelets, Without Cars, Without Policemen
The number of available bracelets is still small, around 2,000 nationwide, and they are not even used in all situations provided for by Law 146/2021. Since the end of February, the protection order law has been in force.
Yet, after 3 years, the use of bracelets is still in the pilot project stage. Only from January 1st of this year, besides the Capital and 3 counties, it has been extended to 20 counties.
However, as the Europol union shows: "who will issue all these temporary protection orders, given the significant shortage of police officers they are facing"? As I mentioned, in Mrs. Șoșoacă's case, someone was found immediately.
On the other hand, according to Europol, "one of the biggest difficulties the Police face is related to outdated and inadequate technology, many devices and equipment currently used are old generation and, in most cases, non-functional".
And this was even proven in the Șoșoacă case, when the system's activation was a several-hour attempt.
On the other hand, the poor technical condition of the Police's fleet "can be a significant obstacle in the successful implementation of the electronic monitoring program. The lack of fuel, especially in the current legislative context, where expenses for current vehicle repairs and fuel purchases have been blocked, exacerbates the problem and limits the police officers' ability to attend events".
These are the real and serious problems that should be discussed regarding family violence, not the boundless cynicism of a politician totally devoid of scruples and ready to cannibalize any topic and situation. But they don't attract audience/traffic because, isn't it true?, beating is considered a right from birth.