An Italian man gets life in prison for killing ex-girlfriend in case that fueled national outrage

MILAN — A 22-year-old Italian man who confessed in court to killing his ex-girlfriend was convicted of her murder on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison in a case that fueled national outrage over violence against women.

Filippo Turetta kept his eyes down as the verdict and sentence were read in a Venice court a little over a year after the body of 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin was found in a ditch in the northern Veneto region. She had been stabbed more than 70 times, and her body was wrapped in plastic bags.

Cecchettin went missing last November after going to the mall with her ex-boyfriend. Her disappearance gripped Italy as authorities searched for them. She was found a week later.

Turetta was later arrested in Germany.

In announcing the verdict, the judge excluded aggravating circumstances of cruelty and stalking but still handed down Italy's toughest sentence.

The killing fueled demands for action to stop violence against women. In the first 10 months of this year, 96 women in Italy were killed, 51 of them by current or former romantic partners, according to Interior Ministry statistics.

Some 10,000 mourners attended Cecchettin's funeral a year ago, ringing bells and shaking keys as part of a campaign to ''make noise'' against gender violence. Her father, Gino Cecchettin, urged mourners to be ''agents of change'' in a culture that often ''undervalues the lives of women.''

''No one will give me back Giulia,'' Cecchettin's father said after the verdict.

He added: ''I don't think you combat gender violence with sentences. You combat with prevention. Therefore, as a human being I feel defeated. As a father, nothing has changed from yesterday, from a year ago."