PARIS — France is to pass a law banning “psychological violence within the couple” and study the idea of tagging violent partners to prevent them stalking their victims, the government said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced the measures in a speech to mark the United Nations’ tenth International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, promising legislation in the first half of nest year.
“It’s an important step forward: the creation of this offence will allow us to deal with the most insidious situations, situations that leave no visible scars, but which leave their victims torn up inside,” he said.
“And we are going to experiment with electronic surveillance measures on the Spanish model to monitor the effectiveness of restraining orders against a violent spouse,” he added.
Spanish judges now have the power to force convicted a wife-beater to wear a watch-sized electronic bracelet that triggers an alarm if he gets too close to his former victim and gives her a chance to call the police.
Since June, 58 men have been tagged and police have been called 222 times.
Last year, 157 French women were killed by their husband or partner.
