Why do women kill? Personal history, domestic violence statistics, and expert opinion
Consequences of domestic violence
In Armenia there has never been a comprehensive study on domestic violence, but surveys conducted by public organizations in 2019 showed that every fourth woman is subjected to domestic violence.
Between 2010 and 2020, up to a hundred women were killed by a partner, husband or other family members, according to the Women’s Assistance Center; and these are solved cases only.
However, over the past ten years, there have also been five cases in which domestic violence ended in murder committed by the woman. Experts say that in all these cases, the murders were carried out by desperate victims of violence.
Personal history, detailed statistics on cases of domestic violence, and expert commentary on what leads to homicide and how it can be avoided.
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“I hit my sleeping husband with an axe”
In July 2017, in the Armavir region of Armenia, the body of Manuk Simonyan was found in a gorge. The victim had been bound, wrapped in something, and hidden under stones. Four days prior, Manuk Simonyan’s relatives had turned to the police with a report that he was missing.
This case received a wide response for two reasons. First, the victim was a high-ranking official, an adviser to the governor of the Armavir region. And, a few days later, on suspicion of committing the murder, the wife and son of the deceased were arrested. Subsequently only his wife, Ruzanna Mkrtchyan, was charged.
“On the morning of July 22, 2017, another quarrel took place between the wife and husband, after which the husband fell asleep, and the wife hit her sleeping husband with an axe used to chop wood. He died from his injuries. Then the wife called her son home. Thereafter the husband’s body was transported and hidden in a gorge near the village of Dalarik, Armavir region,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
During the investigation, it turned out that troubles in the family were frequent; Ruzanna Mkrtchyan had suffered years of severe physical and psychological violence.
The woman related how her husband had doused boiling water over her head, pulled out her teeth, and starved her.
Lawyer Naira Petrosyan says that her client had been humiliated by her husband a long time. A few hours before the incident, Manuk Simonyan again severely beat his wife, and so at the time of the murder, the woman was in a state of passion.
“Ruzanna was the victim of many years of violence, went through unimaginable suffering and was deprived of the opportunity to even report to the police. All doors were closed to her. My client had no other choice, it was the only form of self-defense,” the lawyer says.
Recently the court decided to release Ruzanna on bail until the end of the investigation.
Statistics
In 2021, the Investigative Committee of Armenia investigated 556 criminal cases of domestic violence, of which there were
• 13 murders,
• 5 driven to suicide,
• 2 with uicidal tendencies,
• 12 on the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm,
• 285 beatings.
Cases of rape, false imprisonment and kidnapping were also investigated.
Only 129 of these cases were convicted; 252 criminal cases were closed.
169 crimes committed in the family were violence of a man against a woman, and seven of women against a man.
According to the 2021 Domestic Violence Against Women Study in Armenia,
- 14.8% of women aged 15-59 who have ever had a partner have been physically abused by their husband or partner;
- 62.5% of women who were sexually abused were also physically abused;
- 27.8% of those subjected to physical violence were also subjected to sexual violence.
43.3% of women who were physically or sexually abused by a partner did not tell anyone. Of those who were subjected to physical violence, 44.7% did not tell anyone about what had happened, and of those who were subjected to sexual violence, 48%.
23.5% of abused women have left home. 63% of those who left returned to their husbands. 76.5% of women who have been physically or sexually abused by their partner continue to live with him and have never left him.
Experts speak of two main types of response to the actions of a rapist:
- do nothing and wait for the offender to finish
- or defend oneself
In Armenia, 67% of women prefer the first course of action. Only 33% have ever resisted domestic violence. Moreover, most women who fight back did so just once.
In the first 8 months of 2022, seven cases of femicide were recorded in Armenia.
“The killing could have been avoided”
Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, a human rights activist and representative of the Coalition against Violence Against Women, says that in general statistics the incidence of violence against men by women is extremely low – and, as a rule, these are attempts to defend themselves.
“There have been several cases in Armenia in which a woman went to the extreme and killed her husband. In all of these cases, investigated by the Coalition Against Violence Against Women, it was found that women had been victims of prolonged domestic violence.
“In one of these cases, a woman was even acquitted because it was proved that she had committed murder in a state of passion. The husband was about to shoot his wife with a pistol, and she killed him in self-defense. However, in all other cases, it was also established that the violence began with the man,” Zaruhi Hovhannisyan says.
Hovhannisyan is convinced that the murders could have been avoided if the family and society had made sufficient efforts to support women:
“We must remember that women who are subjected to domestic violence are invisible to others. Men are more influential in the community – they have financial opportunities, economic and social ties. All this directly affects the outcome of the solution to the problem. But in practice, women simply see no other way to protect themselves. They understand that no one will help them.”
According to Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, in recent years the number of women who are forced to leave the country to escape violence has increased. However, not many can afford it.
“Break the cycle of violence”
Zaruhi Hovhannisyan is certain that in order to break the cycle of violence, a deep understanding of domestic violence is needed, which is not found in the legal system of Armenia.
“It is also necessary to strengthen protection measures. A person who reports violence must be sure that protection will be sufficient, that they will be provided with the necessary social support for a life away from the abuser.
“Another important prerequisite is a toughening of penalties. Under current law, violence by a family member is considered an aggravating circumstance only in the case of physical violence. However, our experience shows that there are many cases when a woman was not subjected to physical violence, but to such psychological pressure that she even tried to commit suicide,” the expert says.
Consequences of domestic violence
