Law against femicide promulgated by Romanian president Nicușor Dan

The bill laying out measures to combat femicide was promulgated by president Nicușor Dan on Thursday, April 23, a month after the draft was adopted by Parliament.

The Romanian head of state announced the promulgation in a post on Facebook, arguing that “violence against women has for too long been either ignored or insufficiently addressed.”

“As an act of recognition of a painful reality that we have the obligation to correct, it is extremely necessary to have a law that establishes harsh penalties and promotes measures to prevent femicide and domestic violence,” Nicușor Dan added.

According to the president, the law transforms the commitment of the Romanian state to guarantee the safety of women and children into a concrete prevention mechanism, providing the authorities with the necessary tools to intervene in time, before violence becomes a tragedy.

The head of state also thanked the parliamentarians for “having understood the gravity of this phenomenon and having made the necessary legislative changes.”

On March 25, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the draft law on the prevention and combating of femicide, giving for the first time a legal definition of femicide. The act may be punished as aggravated murder, with prison sentences from 15 to 25 years or even life imprisonment.

Initially submitted on October 29, 2025, the law enjoyed unprecedented support in Parliament, being signed by more than 270 parliamentarians from all parties, despite claims of overregulation. The bill followed several widely discussed cases of femicide that took place in 2025.

In total, 66 femicides took place in Romania last year. At least another 69 women were close to being killed. In total, a man tried to kill or killed a woman every 2.5 days in Romania in 2025.

(Photo source: presidency.ro)